Book I: Having Faith: The Saga of Hope & Light
by Sir Brass of the Pen
Summary: CH 4 up!-Definative version- 8 years after their last adventure, Takeru & Hikari become caught up in the biggest struggle for survival of both their lives. Targets of a sinister evil, they must still save the Digital World one last time, but at what cost?
1. Within Evil's Grasp

Having Faith: The Saga of Hope & Light:  Chapter 1

**Prelude to Darkness I:**

**Within Evil's Grasp******

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**Disclaimer:  I do not own Digimon, because it belongs to Toei.  It is not a wise idea to sue be, because it will be like trying to draw blood from a turnip:  futile.  I am a college student which is synonymous with being monetarily broke.**

Author's Note:  No, you are not having déjà vu. this IS what you think it is, but in a way, it isn't.  I've decided to revamp the entire story up to the point where I left off in chapter 14 (not finished at time of my decision to pause and revamp).  The biggest difference you'll see is . . . . well, I won't spoil anything for those reading this for the first time.  Just have faith (ok, ok, I give in, it was a bad pun :p) in my abilities as a writer.  This story needed revamping . . . badly, in my opinion, and I hope you'll enjoy the new, better (though darker and far less initially sappy) approach I'm taking.

~Sir Brass of the Pen

Additional notes for all readers:  I'll be using the Japanese version names of the characters.  Therefore, for you 02 dub viewers who don't know the Japanese names, Takeru= T.K., Hikari=Kari, Daisuke=Davis, Miyako=Yolie, Iori=Cody, Ken is just Ken, Yamato=Matt, Taichi=Tai, Koushirou=Izzy, Joe's and Mimi's names did not change between the original Japanese and dub versions.  Also, Taichi and Hikari's last names are NOT Kamiya, they are Yagami.  Also, the Japanese way of saying names is Last name then first name.

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            _The warm breeze made its presence known to the world, spreading the small, pink petals of the cherry blossoms.  In the park, a lone pair of figures walked, enjoying the peaceful evening in each other's company.  Takaishi Takeru looked down at the smaller figure of his best friend, Yagami Hikari.  To him, she had not changed much over the years, though, if anything, she had become more beautiful.  Happiness and pain filled him both when he looked at her; happy in that he could be so close to her as a friend, yet pained  in that he couldn't bring himself to tell her how he truly felt.  Truth be told,  he'd fallen in love with her slowly since they began their second adventure in the Digital World when they were only in fifth grade.  However, he didn't want to risk their friendship.  If he lost that, he knew he would lose a vital part of himself; a part so dear that not even the reuniting of his broken family couldn't bring that piece of him back.  Yet, at the same time, he knew that vital part of himself was his love for her, even if she never saw it herself.  Even so, tonight was a fateful night; Takeru could feel that to be so, and he knew what he needed to do . . . to say.  Too long had he lived in the limbo of joy and pain at the thought of one person._

_            Takeru stopped walking and turned to face Hikari._

_            "Takeru-kun, what's wrong?" Hikari asked, slightly concerned at his sudden halt._

_            Takeru met her worried gaze with a soft one of his own.  "Nothing is wrong, Hikari-chan," he said as calmly as he could, trying to suppress the nervousness he felt.  "Its more that everything is . . . right."_

_            "Takaishi Takeru-kun, what in the world do you mean?" she asked sternly.  Takeru would have almost believed that she was genuinely annoyed by his somewhat cryptic answer had it not been for the small grinned that cracked her facial façade of annoyance._

_            She looked so cute, so wonderful, and so . . . Hikari in that moment when she could no longer hold back a giggle, and Takeru couldn't hold back any longer.  "It's . . . it's that .  . . It's that I love you, Hikari-chan!"_

_            Instead of relief, the next feeling he felt was fear; fear that he had said too much too soon, because Hikari now had her hand covering her mouth and her eyes wide in shock as she took a tentative step back.  However, they softened as his words began to seep in more deeply, and a tear leaked out of a corner of her eye, and she stepped closer to Takeru.  As he gently brushed away her tear, the breeze began to blow and the cherry blossoms danced around once more, and in those precious seconds, Hikari threw her arms around Takeru's neck and kissed him gently on the mouth.  Takeru's pain now melted completely away._

***

            A bitter cold blast of air jolted the slumbering Takeru awake.  _"Damn, it was just a dream.  But that cold air . . . what the hell was that?" he thought as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.  He looked around and saw his open bedroom window.  The fact that it was open didn't bother him.  He was on the next to last floor of one of Tokyo's high-rise apartments, and knew that no crook would try and sneak into his room through his window nine stories up from street level.  Besides, it was supposed to be summer, so what was a cold wind doing blowing into his bedroom?  Something wasn't right, but he couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was; all that he knew was that he had felt this same feeling many years before, especially when . . . __"Help me, Takeru!" . . . .  That was it!  When Hikari had been whisked away into the Dark Ocean!  Takeru dashed over to his phone and punched in Hikari's number as fast as any speed dial._

            "Moshi Moshi," a familiar voice answered, to Takeru's complete relief, in the standard Japanese greeting.

            "Hikari-chan, it's me . . .," he was going to say more, but for some reason, his words caught in his throat

            "Takeru-kun, I wasn't expecting you to call me so early.  I thought we weren't going to breakfast until at least a few hours from now."

            "I . . . uh . . . just thought we could have breakfast early."

            "Takeru-kun, is something wrong?"  she asked, her voice sounding concerned.

            "I'm fine, Hikari-chan.  It's just that . . . are you ok?"

            "Of course I'm ok, silly!  Why wouldn't I be?"

            "Umm . . . never mind." He responded, a tad embarrassed.  "Hikari-chan, I'll just get myself ready and then come on down."

            "Sure, I'll go on and unlock the door.  Just come on in when you get down here, ok?"

            "I'll be down in a moment.  See you in a few minutes Hikari-chan."

            Takeru hung up the phone, and told that little voice inside his head – the one that told him that something bad was still going on - to shut up.  He grabbed a clean pair of boxers, and walked into the bathroom, lazily scratching his rough morning stubble.  "Great . . . I have to shave as well.  Don't want to look like a slob, even though she knows I'm not," he grumbled, forgetting that that hushed voice in his head had never been wrong in the past.

***

            Hikari hung up the phone and sighed in amusement.  Ever since he made that promise to protect her, Takeru had always been there for her when she needed him and even sometimes when she'd really hadn't.  For a time, she'd tried to ignore it and act as if she were ok on her own, but her experiences with the Dark Ocean eight years ago had taught her otherwise, and she'd grown to appreciate his annoying tendency to be a bit over-protective.  Even though she knew they were just close friends, no more, she wondered if his need to protect her didn't just stem from his nature and a promise.

            She shook away the thought as quickly as it came to her mind.  _"Don't think such a ridiculous thing, Yagami Hikari!" She thought to herself, __"He thinks of you as only a friend.  Besides, it's only a silly infatuation with him.  He's cute . . . ok, more than just cute, he's irresistibly handsome, but even so, he's just your irresistibly handsome best friend.  You should be happy that he's your best friend, anyway."_

            As she was thinking these things, she went to her door and unlocked the chain, deadbolt, and button lock.  It was then, as she was walking into the bathroom, that she realized that she was still wrapped in her bath towel and robe.  _"Oh, geez!__  He's going to be here in a few minutes and here I am one layer away from being completely naked!  Ack, Hikari, just WHAT were you thinking?!"_

            Hikari quickly hooked up the blow dryer and dried her light-brown hair.  Normally, that would've been it, but Takeru was taking her to breakfast, and that constituted a date in her book.  This required just a little bit of touch-up.  Never one for makeup, a little eyeliner, eye shadow, and lipstick, and that was enough for her.  Normally too much, but this was a date after all, a date with her best friend.  _"And that's all you and he will ever be . . . but is that what you really want?  Oh hell, I don't know!  I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it."_

            "Hikari-chan?  It's me.  May I come in?"

            _"Ack!__  How much time have I wasted just thinking?" she thought realizing she was still in her bathrobe, with only her hair dried and a bit of makeup on.  _

            "Of course, Takeru-kun, come on in.  I'll be out in a bit."

            _"Good thing I already have my clothes laid out.  I'll have to thank Mimi sometime for giving me some fashion sense."_

***

            Underneath the waves of another world, in a city the location of which was known only by those who lived and were imprisoned there, rose a mighty fortress.  Its walls mightier than the strongest steel, and the stench of decay stronger than one hundred dead bodies rotting in the unrelenting August heat on Earth.  A watch tower at each point of the wall's pentagonal star arrangement, each rising hundreds of feet from the ocean's floor, and harpoon sniper slits covered its sides.  In the center, an even more massive structure rose at least three times higher than its watch towers, balconies along every level, and battlements of its own marked the outside of the menacing Keep.  However, the place would have seemed not as menacing were its Master not there.  For what struck true fear into the hearts of all who knew of it, was not Saibin-Drago's appearance, but _who occupied such a place of evil ._

            Once a lowly servant whose power was measurable by standards of the Digimon, Saibin-Drago's master now possessed power far beyond any ever seen before in this world, the digital world, and most certainly in the human world as well.  Oh his throne made of the bone's of sacrifices made to him, Dagomon sat, his tentacles each resting on platforms of skulls, each watching upward in awe, as if the spirits who had occupied the bodies still visited their dead corporeal forms.  In a viewing portal conjured up by his own evil magic, the Lord of the Undersea watched.  She had SPITED him.  Rejected his proposal!  He would have freely given her power nearly equal to his own.  He would have truly treated her well as his Queen, but she had spited him when he'd offered!  Now the time had come for her punishment.  All the planning was now complete and its execution had already begun.

            He watched as she dried her hair and put on her makeup.  He wondered what she was thinking behind those chocolate eyes of her's.  He wondered just what she'd really be thinking when his servants slit her throat with the sacred blade of Ibin-Drago.  What she would think when she realized that her blood was being soaked in by him and would make him infinitely stronger than he currently was.  Just what were her thoughts?

            _"Hikari-chan?__  Its me.  May I come in?"  He heard a voice say, a familiar voice, one that caused in him feelings of fear mixed with uncontrollable hatred.  He had only felt this very few times before, thought it had only been when messengers of his lord's nemesis had tried to bring him down.  They had all failed, and their bones had been made into powerful blades only wielded by his very best warriors._

            _"Of course, Takeru-kun, come on in.  I'll be out in a bit."  She said, somewhat surprised.  Dagomon kept watching as she hurried into her bedroom and stripped down to change.  He wondered what she would think if she knew that he was watching her while she was stripped bare.  His unquenchable desire prompted him to find out.  He placed a spell of affecting on the portal, and used his telepresence to reach out through the portal._

            _"What do you feel like, my lovely sacrifice?  What do you feel like in the pure flesh . . . ."_

***

            _"Women . . . they always take forever to get ready."  Takeru thought whimsically as he sat down on the couch and made himself comfortable.  Since he and Hikari had graduated earlier in the year, they'd been studying together for their entrance exams for college.  Usually, they'd be considered ronins, but unlike ronins, they hadn't applied to universities and been turned down; they'd just not applied anywhere.  They both had decided to take a year off and prepare for the entrance exams without the stress of school weighing on them as well; that was just a secondary reason, however.  The main reason was a matter of money.  College was expensive, and since they both had older brothers, it had been their older brothers who got the majority of the financial support from their parents.  Simply put, even with the money that their parents could afford to give them (and not reduce financial support of their older brothers, that is), they still couldn't afford tuition without jobs.  So it was that they were taking a year to work and earn some money to help pay for tuition without having to take out too many student loans.  Since their decision, they'd moved out and gotten apartments of their own, though in the same building.  Living so close gave them even more time to spend together when they weren't working, whether they were just studying or just having fun together.  Within the last month, their families often joked that they each had the same two phone numbers, so much time they spent at each other's places._

            Now the pair, who many sometimes mistook for a romantic couple, were both itching to get out of Tokyo and go somewhere for a bit.  Go someplace they'd never been before; someplace Hikari could take some unique pictures for her scrap book, and Takeru could get some new ideas for another of his short stories.  The place they decided on?  Kyoto.  Takeru always had had a slight interest in the place ever since he and Iori had been aided by Professor Takenouchi during the whole sequence of events which lead to their showdown with Demon.  Now he wanted to see this place with so many wonderful tales.  Hikari, on the other hand, wanted to go because of the scenery itself, which she had heard about from Miyako after her class trip there.  Now they were getting to go there, just the two of them; and Takeru felt like he was on top of the world.

            If he'd asked himself just a month ago if he could bring himself to tell Hikari about just how he felt about her, he would've told himself  "No, not yet."  However, it had taken a talk with his mother a few weeks before to change his mind.  He was telling her about how he and Hikari were going to Kyoto for a week, and that he was excited that he would have an entire week just spending time with Hikari, and his mother had asked him a question he had never seen coming.

            _"Are you finally going to tell her how you feel about her?" she'd asked him casually as she brought in some fresh green tea._

            _"Mother!__  She's my best friend!  I don't want to risk that just for something I'm not certain about!" he'd responded, slightly shocked at the bluntness of her question.  Though on reflection afterwards, he should've expected it.  His mother was a journalist after all, and she had a habit of not beating around the bush, and getting straight to the point._

            _"Takeru, since you graduated and then moved out, when you and Hikari haven't been working, you two have been either out somewhere together or at either your place or her's.  Now, don't you tell me that you aren't sure of your feelings now." She'd said sternly, but she neither looked mad or annoyed._

            _"But mother, this has only made me even more uncertain!  I love the time I get to spend with her now and I know that I love her, but I don't know whether I should just let her know and risk our whole friendship, or to just be content with the way we are now!"_

            _"Dear, do you seriously think that she'll totally reject you if you tell her you love her?  You and I both know you're not that dense."_

_            "No, but I feel that there's a real possibility that it definitely won't be the same.  Will she still be able to confide in me?  Will we still be able to pal around like we used to in elementary school?  That's what I'm worried about."_

            She'd looked thoughtfully at him, finally getting what was holding her son back.  _"Well, son, that is the decision that you have to make.  Its up to you whether you decide to stay silent and guarantee that you two can stay as close as you are now, or whether to take the chance and either lose some of the closeness you two share, or become even closer to her.  I took that risk many, many years ago, and I've never regretted it."_

_            "Even though you and dad divorced?"_

_            "Yes.  Because even though it didn't work out in the end, I now have you and Yamato in my life because of it, and your father and I are still on good terms as well.  I do not regret my decisions one bit."_

_            "I love you to, mom," he'd said, getting her point.  __"And, thanks.   But I have to go, now.  I need to confirm Hikari's and my reservations at the hotel in __Kyoto__, plus I've got some thinking to do."_

            _"Well, I'm glad you still feel like you can come and talk to your little old mother," she'd said, giving her son a motherly hug; she feigned shock that Takeru stood about a foot taller than her.  __"My word, I still forget that my baby is now so big!"_

            _"I'll see you again when we get back from __Kyoto__, mom.  And don't worry, we'll be fine."_

            Takeru sighed as he replayed his conversation with his mother in his mind.  He let his eyes drift across Hikari's apartment and his eyes settled on a picture she had on the table right in front of the couch.  He picked it up to look at the picture even closer.  It was of him and Hikari right after graduation at their favorite restaurant, seated right next to each other.  He was grinning like a fool, and she was smiling her cute contented smile-though to him, any of her smiles was cute.  Below it was a small phrase written completely in Chinese.  Hikari had always had an interest in the Chinese language, which was probably why the phrase was in Chinese kanji1 instead of Japanese kana2.  Luckily, Takeru got the gist of the phrase, "Best friends forever"

            Takeru glanced at his watch, wondering what was taking her so long, but only realized that he'd been there for about a minute.  _"Calm down, Takeru, you two are just going to breakfast together before getting packed and heading down to the train station to catch the afternoon train to __Kyoto__.  Just cool it."_

            However, he didn't get a chance to calm down, as at that moment, Hikari's shriek tore through the air.

***

            Hikari hurried, not wanting to keep Takeru waiting.  She kept berating herself for her stupidity as she sloughed off her bathrobe.  As she was putting on her undergarments, she felt what seemed to be an ice cold tentacle caress her chest.  She gasped as she jumped back, startled and more than a little bit frightened.  She looked around quickly trying to see who was in her bedroom.  Seeing no one, she hurried even faster to finish getting dressed.   It was as she was slipping on her top that it happened.  She felt the same icy touch run down her arms and move across her face.  Startled, she moved closer to the door, closer to safety, closer to being beside Takeru, closer to the phone so she could call Taichi, just somewhere else.

            _"My, my you do startle easily for such a confident and lovely young woman." a cruel being yet unseen laughed, his voice as icy as an arctic blizzard, and his laughter filled with ill-will and lust that disgusted her more than even Vandemon had when he captured her and Tailmon over ten years ago.  The voice also sounded familiar . . . too familiar._

            "Who are you?  What do you want?" she asked, trying not to sound scared, though the truth was that she was terrified beyond her wildest dreams.  Because as she began to search through her memories, she realized who the voice belonged to.  Was he trying to call her back?  What did he want her for this time?  What was he going to do to her?

            _"Oh, I shouldn't have to introduce myself," he said in a manner too casual for Hikari's liking, __"I should never have to introduce myself.  Because those who face me should already know my name.  I know you have heard it, my lovely Hikari.  Now it is time for you to give me your power!  Your sacrifice shall be glorious, and Baal shall be most pleased with his most high servant now!"_

            "NO!  Stay away, Dagomon!"  she said, not trying anymore to cover her fear.  "Get away from me!"

            _"I think NOT, my lovely.  You see, you have no choice in the matter!  Try and flee to the Digital World and my servants shall hunt you down and bring you back to me.  Flee to the arms of your champion, and I shall strike him down!  Flee to your family, and they shall be sacrificed to me as well!  You have NO options!  Now, COME!"_

            Black tentacles darker than the sky in the wilderness under a new moon came forth and tried to grab at Hikari.  She ducked and screamed.

            "HELP ME!"

            She made a dash for the door, but one of the tentacles caught her around her waist and began to drag her towards a black portal that had just appeared.

            "LET ME GO!  TAKERU, HELP ME!"

***

            Takeru already had his hand on the door when Hikari screamed again, though this time for him.  He threw open the door, and he thought his heart was going to jump straight into his throat.  There she was, being dragged by tentacles as dark as a lightless void, towards a portal of steamy mist.  She was struggling to get free, and Takeru, almost without thinking, leapt to grab onto her and prevent her from being pulled in.

            "LET HER GO!"  he yelled, grabbing a hold of her outstretched hands and pulling.  "RELEASE HER NOW!"

            _"Oh, I think not, human!" snarled a voice, which sent ice shooting down Takeru's spine.  __"Neither of you have any choice in the matter!  She will be sacrificed to me, and you cannot stop me!  Now, let go of her before YOU taste the Hellfire!"_

            "GO BURN YOURSELF!"  Takeru kept his grip on one of Hikari's arms and with the other one, he grabbed onto the tentacle that was holding her tightly restrained.  He dug his fingers in and squeezed.  Instead of jolting in pain, as it should have done, the creature's tentacle burst into flame.  Takeru needed only a moment to see what was going on, and he began grabbing onto and strangling other tentacles.  Eight tentacles later, the creature released its grip on Hikari, shrieking in pain, and retreated into the closing portal.  His sudden release of Hikari and Takeru's constant pull resulted in them both collapsing one on top of the other.

***

            Dagomon broke the connection to the human world almost immediately and closed the view portal.  What was that man who had interfered?  A mortal human he obviously was, but he had been able to cause such pain to Dagomon as only a Holy warrior could do.  Dagomon looked at his eight tentacles and was shocked to find that each had severe burns on each of them, the most severe being in the shape of a hand, exactly where the man had grabbed his telekinetic self.  Dagomon growled in pain and slight humiliation that a mere human could do such damage to a demi-god such as he.  He was also slightly worried that he couldn't bring the woman to his newest realm for sacrifice as his master had ordered.

            _"Drink her blood, ravage her body, and do whatever other things you wish to her, but her soul's energy is to remain untouched.  THAT is the reason you are to sacrifice her, Dagomon.  I can do nothing about her soul, as that is a realm the enemy still has, but after I have her spirit, my goal will be within reach.  Do this, my servant, and you shall become even MORE powerful."_

            Dagomon looked around desperately for the owner of the voice, so he would be able to show submission to him.  The voice, the sound that was its voice sounded like the screams of countless sacrifices in the midst of pain as well as pleasure.  Looming above him, in the form once known as Demon, was Baal, a Hell Demon and often called a god by the beings who worshipped him.  The god of rape descended to the floor of Dagomon's throne room, though his form still towered above the demi-god which served him.

            "Master, I am doing what I can to capture her.  I shall have her and sacrifice her."

            _"See that you do, Dagomon.  Or else it shall be YOUR spirit and soul that comes to me for use as well as her body and spirit shall come to me for my pleasure.  Do NOT fail in your task, Dagomon."_

            "I understand, Lord Baal."

            _"See that you still understand the next time, Dagomon.  I do not tolerate weakness among my servants.  Also, continue preparation for the invasions.  Aside from the woman Hikari, they are of paramount importance for you."_

            With that, the Hell Demon's form disintegrated into a massive column of fire and rose through the deep water and away from Hell from which it had come.

***

            "Hikari-chan, are you ok?" Takeru asked once they had become disentangled from one another.

            "I . . . I'm fine," she said, looking exhausted.  "Thank you, Takeru."

            Takeru smiled, and helped Hikari to her feet, and lead her into the living room.  "I think we should just have breakfast here," he said quietly.  "How does that sound to you, Hikari-chan?"

            "Sounds fine to me, Takeru." she said, her voice distant, and Takeru could tell that she was still frightened.  He just wanted to sit down right beside her and hold her till she felt safe again, but that wouldn't be right.  It would be too intimate for just two friends, even though he thought of her as far more than a friend.  Still, maybe now wasn't a time for thinking about what society saw as proper or improper, and start thinking of what was best for Hikari.

            Takeru went into the kitchen and began preparing some green tea.  He fixed two cups and walked back into the living room and sat down beside Hikari.  She took the cup he offered her, and took a small sip of the hot herbal tea.  They sat in silence, till Takeru finished his tea and set the cup down on the table.

            "Hikari-chan?"

            "He . . . he tried to take me again, Takeru," she said, her voice numb from the recent events.  "And it's not like last time, where I was vulnerable.  This time it was right out of the blue and . . . and in the place where I should be able to feel safe!"  She looked straight into his eyes with a tears of  fury, rage, hurt, and confusion beginning to spill out.  "He tried to take me to sacrifice me!  He said it himself!  No matter what, he said I'd be sacrificed to him!"

            "Well, he isn't now, Hikari-chan," Takeru said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder like did eight years ago when Dagomon's servants had tried to take her.  "And he ISN'T going to take you, not without facing me to the very last, that is."

            "Takeru . . ." the fear in her eyes began to shift to something he had never seen in her before.  He wasn't sure what he saw in her eyes, but whatever it was, he hoped he could see it again.  He liked the look she had.  " . . . but why, Takeru?"

            Takeru gave her a look which said 'why do you ask?' and stood up, determination and fire burning in his eyes.  "Because you are my closest friend, Hikari, the best friend I have ever had, and I'll be DAMNED before I let some demented thing such as Dagomon , at least I think that's who that thing was, take you without going over my dead and decayed body first!  That evil thing has effectively signed his own death warrant as far as I'm concerned, and I'm more than willing to carry it out should he try something like that again.  I promised eleven years ago that I would protect you no matter what, and I will, under no circumstances, break that promise.  You mean too much to me for me to do anything less."

            "Takeru . . . I . . . I don't know what to say except Thank you." Hikari said, as if she couldn't find the right words to say, which was indeed, the truth.  Her heart began to pound like it never done before.  Something told her that she never wanted to be far away from him, and that thought which she had believed ridiculous less than an hour ago now didn't seem ridiculous as it did then.  _"Could I be . . . falling in love with him?  Falling in love with my best friend?  It's supposed to sound ridiculous, but, now I don't know.  Right now it doesn't sound so ridiculous.  Maybe it's just because of what I just went though . . . yeah, that has to be it.  Yes, I'm just becoming a bit infatuated with him because he came to my rescue.  The same thing happened last time Dagomon called to me.  But it was just the mixed emotions afterward that made me think that.  Besides, it's in his nature to want to protect me."_

            Takeru just smiled back, and sat down again, and collected the empty tea cups and took them back into the kitchen.  As he was washing them out, he decided it best to try and get Hikari's mind off of what Dagomon had almost been able to do to her.  "You know, Kyoto sounds like an even better idea that it already was at first," he said, trying to sound nonchalant, as he put away the now clean cups.  "The train leaves in about four hours, so we better go on and get packed.  When do you think we should start heading for the train station?"

            "I guess as soon as we're ready.  I don't feel safe here anymore, so getting out of here as fast as possible is what I want to do," she responded calmly, and Takeru breathed a small sigh of relief that she was getting her usual nerve back.  Now he didn't have to put himself in an awkward position for her sake, though he would do so in an instant if it meant protecting her; however, he wouldn't do so until the time was right.  He felt the ring in his pocket, and wondered when the right time would be to ask.  He knew his initial answer and also knew that he could no longer accept its usual "not at the moment" response.

            "Whatever you want to do, Hikari-chan," he said, beginning to head for the door.  "So, how about you meet me up at my place as soon as you're ready.  I've decided that I'm going to bring along a few extra things."

            "Umm . . . Takeru?  Could you stay for a bit?" she asked with more than a slight hint of nervousness.  "I don't really want to be back in my room alone just yet.  I don't want him coming after me again."

            Takeru simply nodded.  If it were for her sake, then he would do it with no questions asked.  He also didn't blame her for wanting some company, since Dagomon probably waited till the person was alone and vulnerable before making his move.  It had been the same eight years ago, when everyone was too busy with their school work to notice any subtle changes in her, and they wouldn't have if he hadn't sensed the darkness around her, trying to take her.  And Dagomon had gotten her again when she was leaving school alone, except that Tailmon had spotted her at the last moment, though still too late to stop Dagomon from taking her to the Dark Ocean anyway.

            Takeru sat down in the chair closest to her room, and kept an eye on it as she went in.  She also left the door wide open as well, probably so that she could just dash out if anything happened again.  Less than half a minute later, Hikari popped her head out the doorway.  "Takeru, I wouldn't mind some company in here, either."

            "But . . . but . . .," he stammered.  She was asking him to come into her room!  That hadn't happened before, and now it was Takeru's turn to feel nervous.  Instead of showing it, he hid his nervousness with a comment that was meant to be funny.  "Scared of monsters under the bed, Hikari-chan?"  he asked with a playful grin on his face.

            Wrong move.  Her relatively calm face became one of hurt, because of his words.  _"Baka!3 Think of what you're going to say before you make witty remarks!" he thought, mentally berating himself for his idiocy.  He immediately got up and went to Hikari.  "I'm sorry, Hikari-chan," he apologized, hoping that even though he immediately reopened a wound in the very early stages of being mended, that she would hear the sincerity in his words.  "I didn't mean it like that."_

            "I know, Takeru.  I . . ." she said, as if she were apologizing as well.

            "Hikari-chan, don't apologize," Takeru interrupted.  "I should've thought about what I was going to say before I said it.  I don't mind giving you company while you pack."

            _"Watch your words next time, Takeru no baka!  She's still very vulnerable, so be very careful!"_

            Takeru kept his eyes averted as Hikari packed her unmentionables, even though she teased Takeru that they were just clothes and nothing to be embarrassed about seeing.  Takeru still preferred to keep his eyes averted.  Ever since they had moved into their apartments and began spending much more time together, Takeru had started to hear people talk; some were nice comments and some were nasty, but all were off the mark.  Most were either along the lines of "what a nice couple" or "see those two young love birds?  Ugh, scandalous."  Hikari had somehow managed to never notice the remarks, or if she did, she never mentioned them.  Takeru acted like he ignored the comments, but the remarks got to him, and ever since, he tried to not be as familiar in private so he could prove to himself that he and Hikari were still just best friends no matter what the other tenants said.  It wasn't that he didn't want to be romantically involved with Hikari, but he did find it unnerving if nearly complete strangers saw something between them that they themselves did not see.

            Takeru and Hikari chatted about what to do in Kyoto for the short week that they were going to be there, and realized that they'd need more than a week there to do all that they wanted to do.  So, a somewhat radical idea came to Takeru's mind.  "Hikari-chan, why not stay two weeks?  Your boss is laid back enough to go along with it, and mine said that I could take a whole month off if I wanted to when I mentioned that you and I were going together.  Besides, it'll give you more time to get your mind off of things.  Or maybe even three weeks!  I have enough saved up to cover the extended cost."

            Hikari's eyes lit up with excitement at Takeru's plan.  They both knew that an extended vacation was what was needed, and would allow them to really get away from all their normal stresses as well as the not-so-normal stresses.  Takeru also knew it would give him more time to find the perfect moment to tell Hikari of his feelings for her.  "You really mean it, Takeru?  Three weeks!   Really?"

            "Yeah, I don't see why not, Hikari-chan."

            She clapped her hands in delight at just the thought, and hurried to finish packing.  She figured that she could do laundry a few times in Kyoto, so she just made sure she brought detergent along as well.  She closed and locked her travel suitcase, and grabbed her purse, basically all ready to go.  "Well, now to get you packed, Takeru."

            "Huh?  Oh!  Yeah, come on up to my place.  We'll get moving when I'm finished."

            As they headed for the door, Hikari stopped as if she forgot something, then set her things down and went back into the living room.  "You go on, Takeru, I just have to get one last thing before I leave.  I won't even be a minute."

            Takeru nodded and went on outside and waited for her.  About a half minute later, Hikari appeared with her suitcase, purse and apartment key.  She locked both locks and then she and Takeru both headed up to his apartment several floors up.

***

            Where Hikari's apartment had shelves filled with pictures, Takeru had bookshelves.  Takeru had his books arranged according to where they came from and their age.  On one shelf he had the works of the great Haiku writers of ancient Edo Japan.  On several others he had select collections of western greats ranging from Shakespeare all the way up to hardback copies of Clancy's novels.

            All the foreign were translated into Japanese, though Takeru had become quite adept at speaking, as well as reading and writing English.  Even his prized hardback single volume copy of Lord of the Rings was completely translated into Japanese kana.  However, there was one book case which held more than just books.  This was Takeru's favorite bookshelf, as it held his manga collection (only series which he had finished, though) as well as his very large anime collection.  These took up all the room on the bookshelf except for a shelf in the middle, set right at Hikari's eye level. Here, Takeru kept his pictures.  Four pictures only, however, but they were pictures which Hikari knew that he treasured.

            One picture was an early portrait during a time when his family had not been split.  He was only a toddler in the picture, but he refused to put in a newer family picture because it was the last one ever taken before his mother and father began having marital problems.  Another picture was fairly recent.  It was of him and his brother several months back.  Both were laughing and palling around, and it was the picture which had always made Hikari grin.  The third picture was one which always managed to bring a wave of nostalgia, as it was the picture that was taken of the original eight digidestined right after their final battle.  Gennai, before he de-aged, was sitting in his Mechanorimon mecha with Andromon beside him.  Ogremon was standing behind the eight Chosen Children, grinning like a fool.  The others were standing in front of Ogremon, but what managed to bring back the Nostalgia to Hikari was seeing herself of eleven years ago holding a newly hatched digimon in her hands.  She moved onto the fourth and final picture.  This picture was actually a collage, but the pictures which made it up were of only two people, herself and Takeru.  Pictures from all kinds of places and from various times during the eleven years that she and Takeru had known each other.  At the bottom in gold kana was written "Cherished memories."  Hikari truly loved this particular picture, because she could always think about it and know that at least somebody cared about her even when she felt like no one did.

            Takeru went into his room to pack, and Hikari stopped looking at his pictures, and followed Takeru into his room.  She looked around the room, noticing how it contrasted with the rest of the apartment.  While the living room/kitchen area looked like the apartment had a writer of very avid reader living in it (and Takeru was both), with the bookshelves, anime, decent TV and home theater system, two-person couch and a recliner; Takeru's room made it seem like a warrior lived in the apartment.  A simple, but comfortable bed, and beside it a nightstand with phone.  His closet held all his clothes and travel gear, and a desk in the corner was where he did some of his writing, and also served as a place where he kept a small picture of himself and Patamon.  The walls were bare except for a very beautiful katana which hung in its scabbard from horizontal support hooks which kept the katana securely in place, but easily retrievable if so desired.  All in all, the whole apartment seemed very much like Takeru himself.  Hikari had noticed long ago that Takeru had two distinct sides to his personality.  The one which was most prominent and which everyone saw was the writer part of himself.  Friendly, passionate, kind hearted, and very creative, that was his prominent side, the one everyone took him to be.  However, only those very close to him had seen his other side, the one which actually guided his life, his warrior side.  Protective, selfless, humble, and practical were parts of himself not so easily seen, but where the guiding traits in his life.  He usually kept the two parts separate from each other, always choosing to show his writer side, though letting his warrior side guide his life.  However, when the two halves mixed, the best of both sides combined to show a very scary result.  On at least two occasions, the two pieces that made up Takeru had mixed, and when they did, he'd managed to frighten her once with it as well.

            Hikari sat down on the edge of his bed as he pulled out his suitcase and began packing.  As he was doing so, a question popped up in Hikari's mind that she wanted to get off her chest.  "Do you ever plan to get married, Takeru?"

            Takeru, who was bent over packing his clothes, shot straight up, caught off guard.  "I . . . uh . . . um . . . well, I think I … uh . . . I guess I do, Hikari-chan.  Why do you ask?"

            "I was just wondering," she said wistfully as if daydreaming of a time in the future.  "What if we're constantly haunted by these enemies from our past?  Wouldn't that give our enemies more ammunition to use against us?"

            "Yes, but better to give them weapons only rather than an automatic victory.  If I don't get married because of that fear, then my enemies have already won.  I don't plan on giving them that satisfaction.  Also, I want someone who I'm close to and can share my world with, and also be able to pass on my heritage."

            "Same here, Takeru.  I just don't know if the man I love could ever love me back."  She gave a regretful sigh.

            "Hikari-chan, if you were able to really fall in love with him, then I'm sure that he's perfectly willing and able to love you back.  All you need to do is let him know how you feel."  He gave a small pause as he shut and locked his suitcase.  "There, I'm ready.  Just one more thing I need."

            Takeru reached under his bed and pulled out a solid black case, and opened it.  It's inside was lined with red velvet and had a place for what looked like a katana.  Takeru grabbed his katana from above his bed and drew out the blade.  Soon after their second adventure in the Digital World, Takeru had decided to start learning martial arts, and decided on kenjitsu.  It allowed him to release pent-up anger and also learn a defensive as well as offensive art besides regular brawling which most boys knew how to do instinctively.  It had become his outlet instead of basketball.  Instructed personally by a true kenjitsu master, Takeru had caught on well to the art, and in eight years he was almost ready to be given the title of master as well.  So, as a graduation gift, his mother, father, and brother had all pitched in and ordered him a custom forged katana.  This katana he now drew not to practice, because that is what his bokkens were for, but to test the blade once again before packing it up in its case.  He felt its balance and took a few swings with it from the different guard positions.  Like the waves on the sea, his blade flowed, and sliced through the air with lethal speed and absolute control.  Satisfied, he sheathed the katana and placed it with both katana and scabbard in the case, shut it, locked it, and picked up it and his suitcase.

            "Ready to go now, Hikari-chan?"

            Hikari nodded, "Lets go, Takeru."

***

            In the middle of a lake on the continent of Server, a hermit who looked and felt much younger than he really was, looked up at the storm in the night sky.  The storm clouds rolling in were devoid of any color other than the total blackness of evil, and the lightning was a haunting blue-white of unnatural hues.  All this the hermit watched with worry and went inside to check a document he had been reading earlier.

            "I had hoped this day would never come," he said to two smaller beings beside him.  One a flying pig-like digimon who was orange on top and white on the bottom, and a white cat digimon with gloved front paws and an extremely wise and intelligent look in her feline eyes.  "I had hoped that the prophecies would have been incorrect.  Those hopes are now in vain."

            "Gennai-sama, what are we going to do?"  The feline digimon asked.  "How can I protect Hikari-san?"

            "Don't forget Takeru-san as well, Tailmon," the flying pig digimon said.

            "We fulfill our part of the prophecy," Gennai said.  "I'm sorry, Patamon, Tailmon, that being reunited with your partners had to come under the absolute worst of circumstances, especially for Hikari.  We must protect her carefully.  The coming battle will be over her."

            "You mean . . ." Tailmon began.

            "Yes, Tailmon," Gennai said, "Dagomon's war horn has sounded.  Darkness like no other is soon upon us."

**TO Be Continued . . .**

1.  Kanji is a set of ideogramatic characters in Chinese, each symbol has a meaning in and of itself.  There are several thousand kanji characters, but only some are used in Japanese for special sounds.  It is important to not that kanji is Chinese, and that the kanji in Japanese is borrowed from Chinese.  Also, there is some kanji that the japanese have invented themselves, called 'waji.'

2.  Kana is the Japanese syllabary which is composed of hiragana and katakana.  Hiragana and Katakana each contain 46 characters.  They are used to represent the same sounds, though a character in hiragana which has the same sound as a symbol in katakana look totally dissimilar to someone who does not know the kana syllabary.  This is a much smaller and structured character system than the thousands of kanji characters that the Chinese use.

3.  Baka, is a direct and informal insult, making it sting even more since the Japanese culture is very formal by nature.  If referring to oneself, 'baka' is a truncated form of 'Watashi wa baka desu.' which means "I'm an idiot."  If referring to something or someone else, the word 'watashi' is replaced with the name of the person, appropriate pronoun, name or place, or name of object to be called an idiot or a fool.  In this instance, Takeru is really coming down hard upon himself for his poor choice of words, as opposed to when he says 'Takeru no baka' which basically means 'Dumb Takeru.'  This is appropriate to his nature as he places Hikari's well being above his own.


	2. The Thing that Should Not Be

Having Faith: The Saga of Hope & Light:  Chapter 2

**Prelude to Darkness II:**

**The Thing That Should Not Be**

Author's Note:  Before I delve any farther into the story, I'd just like to give credit to those who have given me help with this, even though they have NO clue that they have done so:  Karen (aka KarenSedai-Kibou no Tenshi) for her insight into takari, especially on the connections between "The Call of Dagomon" and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos; Ukyoluvr and JHG for their Zero Two psych profiles; Daisukefire, Caspian, Sailormoonshadow, and CyberDracomon for their support of my takarist pursuits and for entertaining me with their well written takari; Kale for getting me into digimon fanfiction in the first place (by his works); and to all my readers for all their support.  Thank you all!  Arigatou gozaimasu!

**Legal Disclaimer:** "The Thing That Should Not Be" is property of Metallica.  Lyrics by James Hetfield.

*****

_"Messenger of Fear In Sight_

_Dark Deception Kills the Light_

_ Hybrid Children Watch the Sea_

_Pray for Father, Roaming Free_

_[Fearless Wretch_

_Insanity_

_He Watches_

_Lurking Beneath the Sea_

_Great Old One_

_Forbidden Site_

_He Searches_

_Hunter of the Shadows is Rising_

_Immortal_

_In Madness You Dwell]_

_Crawling Chaos Underground_

_Cult Has Summoned Twisted Sound_

_Out From Ruins Once Possessed_

_Fallen City, Living Death_

_[Fearless Wretch_

_Insanity_

_He Watches_

_Lurking Beneath the Sea_

_Timeless Sleep_

_Has Been Upset_

_He Awakens_

_Hunter of the Shadows is Rising_

_Immortal_

_In Madness You Dwell]_

_Not Dead Which Eternal Lie_

_Stranger Eons Death May Die_

_Drain You of Your Sanity_

_Face the Thing that Should Not Be_

_[Fearless Wretch_

_Insanity_

_He Watches_

_Lurking Beneath the Sea_

_Great Old One_

_Forbidden Site_

_He Searches_

_Hunter of the Shadows is Rising_

_Immortal_

_In Madness You Dwell]"_

_~"The Thing That Should Not Be" by Metallica_

            After handing their tickets over to the ticket collector, Hikari and Takeru boarded the train and headed for their seats.  They stowed their things in one of the overhead compartments, and made themselves comfortable.  Ten minutes later, the train slowly pulled out of the station, and Hikari and Takeru's vacation began.  Takeru reclined his seat back, put up his footrest and sank into a state of peaceful meditation as he watched the scenery outside the window.  Being on the aisle seat, watching the scenery meant he also had his eye on Hikari.  He wanted to make sure that she didn't start disappearing on him like the last time Dagomon had attempted to call her into his grasp.  Hikari, on the other hand, simply pulled out a book she'd been reading for the past few days and picked up where she'd last left off.

            Takeru tried to not look at Hikari, since looking at her when she seemed so peaceful and content made his heart want to break.  He usually forced himself to look away so that he wouldn't have to be agonized by the pain his love for her brought him.  However, at that moment, he felt compelled to turn his attention from the window to her.  She had grown her hair longer in the back over the years, down to just past her shoulders.  However, her bangs were still pulled over, but instead of hanging in front, she now had them pulled back behind her ears.  Takeru liked her new hairstyle, but then again, he liked any hair style she had.  However, in his opinion, this one made her look even more beautiful.  She wore a pair of light khaki capris, which showed off her very womanly curves.  She had on a pink u-cut top whose sleeves ended a centimeter or two past her shoulders and the open part began right at the collarbone.  If Takeru had looked at any of the guys his age on the train who had passed by where he and Hikari were sitting, he knew he would've seen them all give him very jealous stares.  However, Takeru was sick of others seeing him and Hikari as a couple, even though he secretly wished they were.  Takeru couldn't help but think how . . . balanced . . . she looked.  She wore a somewhat modest outfit, which, without looking like she was advertising her body, still managed to be quite flirtatious.  On the inside where personality and character reigned, she was just as elegant and beautiful to Takeru as she was on the outside.  She was in balance, or at least she looked that way, because despite her peaceful exterior, Takeru knew that she was still very much haunted by Dagomon's attempt on her that morning.  He wished he could just take the fear those memories caused away from her; wished he could do something more than he could do now, which was simply to be there for her, to watch over her, and to protect her as best he could.

            His thoughts were interrupted when he felt someone come up to his and Hikari's row.  "Konnichiwa, Takaishi-san, Yagami-san," an attendant said after quickly glancing at a clipboard he had, "Lunch will be served in half an hour.  Would either of you like to have seats reserved?"

            Hikari looked up from her book and looked at Takeru.  With only a nod as a response, they'd decided.  "Yes, we'd like to reserve seats," Hikari said.

            "Separate seating, or a table together?"  the attendant inquired politely.

            _"Finally, someone who hasn't assumed anything about us, even though its his job not to assume,"_ Takeru thought.  "Together," he said to the attendant.

            "Very well, then, Takaishi-san, Yagami-san.  You'll hear your table called when it is ready.  Oh, um, under whose name should I have the table reserved?"

            Hikari beat Takeru to the punch this time, wanting to do something for him this time.  "Put it under mine," she said sweetly.  "Mr. Gracious here has paid my tab enough times already."

            The attendant laughed as he wrote down Hikari's name on his clipboard.  "I see, I see," he chuckled.  "Yagami, table of two.  Your table should be ready in half an hour."

***

            "Why can't we use the digital gate, Gennai?" Patamon asked, hovering over the scroll the hermit had rolled out on his desk.  "I thought the only way to and from the worlds was through the Gate."

            "It is," Gennai said, calmly, his finger tracing over lines upon lines of script written in a language spoken by a people long forgotten, "However, we can't use the usual method.  Dagomon may be sick and evil, but he is far from stupid.  The old records don't call him a conquering genius just because they liked how it came out on parchment.  By now, he probably has his spies watching all entry points, and as soon as we get Takeru and Hikari through the gate, they'll either be killed or captured instantly.  No, we have to use an older method.  One which Dagomon isn't familiar with."

            "What do you mean by that?"  Tailmon asked, jumping up onto Gennai's desk.

            "Well, bring me that scroll over there and you'll see, Tailmon," Gennai said, pointing to a scroll on the bottom level of the cubbyhole shelf which held all of his old scrolls.  Tailmon retrieved the indicated scroll and Gennai spread it out on his desk.

            "Does that say what I think it does?"  Patamon asked.

            Gennai nodded.  "It does."

            "But what are we going to do with an entire train-full of people?  You did say that they're on a train right now, right?"

            Gennai nodded again.  "But we can only bring in those who have digivices.  It doesn't have to be a wave like eleven years ago when they were first brought here.  No, I've got another idea in mind.

            "But why are we doing this?  They'll be in more danger by being brought here than they are in the Digital World, won't they?"

            "If Dagomon takes over the Digital World, then _nothing_ can stop him from invading and successfully conquering the Real World.  Besides, if Dagomon doesn't know that they're here, then he won't be able to know what they're doing for a time.  That's the time we've got in which to work out a plan."

            "Then what do you want us to do, Gennai?" Patamon asked.

            Gennai turned to his computer and called up a map of the Digital World and marked four points on the map.  "War is coming, and if we're going to fight, we need an army.  Best to start gathering one _before_ Dagomon's army or arm_ies_ begin invading.  I need you two to get these places and begin organizing as many digimon able to fight as possible.  I know that the digimon at these places will come to our aid immediately."  Gennai then reached into his desk and pulled out an orb, glowing a soft cobalt blue.  "Qinglongmon has given me this.  Evolve and start off right now.  They'll be here when you get back."

***

            _"We are now arriving in __Kyoto__,"_ said an electronic voice over the PA system.  _"If you are getting off in __Kyoto__, please be ready to disembark by the time the train comes to a complete stop in the station."_

            Takeru closed and reopened his sighed as he thought about how to get out of his seat without disturbing Hikari. She slept soundly next to him in the same position she had been in when she first nodded off.  He understood completely; after all, it had been quite a day for both of them and she'd had it worse than most.  Lunch had been wonderful, and it had been the first time that either of them had eaten in a dining car, because the last time they'd been on a long distance train trip had been in America, and had been rudely interrupted.  Still, it had been a hot meal, and Hikari being as mentally exhausted as she was after that morning, Takeru didn't blame her for falling fast asleep soon afterwards.  It had made him a bit nervous when after she fell asleep on his shoulder, but not wanting to wake her up by sitting her upright, he'd let her stay that way.  He'd tried to go into meditiation to contemplate things, namely the plot of his next story; however, the temptation to just watch her was too strong.  So, he spent the rest of the trip quietly watching her sleep, her chest moving up and down in a steady, peaceful rhythm.  For the rest of the trip, Takeru felt totally content, as if everything was going right for the both of them.  However, he now had to get up to get their bags, though he still didn't have the heart to wake Hikari.  Ever so deftly, he put his seat back up a bit, so that the seatback's side formed a slight pillow for Hikari.  He moved her upright a bit and her head leaned to the side a bit and rested against the side of his seat back.  Mission accomplished, and he was now free to move without waking her.  _"Poor Hikari.  This vacation is just what she needs, thankfully,"_ he thought as he opened the overhead bins and pulled out their suitcases and his katana's case.  He set the suitcases upright on the floor in front of them, and held firmly onto his katana's case.  Japan's long-distance trains weren't known for having many active pickpockets or muggers on board due to the train-car's confined nature and ease of spotting a thief, but one could never be too sure with an item as valuable as a custom made katana like his.  He hadn't originally planned to bring his Katana along, but now Hikari was in need of someone watching over her more than ever, and the promises he had made to both Taichi and Sora eleven years ago to protect Hikari had come back to him in full.  Takeru's Katana was not just a tool, but an extension of himself, and it would now be used in Hikari's defense; he could do nothing less than give his all in protecting her from further harm.

            Minutes later, Takeru felt the train's brakes being applied when inertia caused him to be shoved forward slightly.  The slight jolt caused Hikari to stir, and the next application of the brakes woke her up.  She sat up and rubbed her eyes then reoriented herself.  "Takeru, are we in Kyoto?"

            "Pulling in right now," he said, motioning to their luggage right in front of them, and added.  "And I went on and got our luggage down from the overhead compartment."

            "How sweet!  Thank you Takeru." she said sweetly.

            "Consider it as me paying you back for paying for lunch," he said, grinning.

            "Somehow I doubt that covers it Takaishi Takeru," she teasingly glowered, "And you better make sure you didn't know how expensive lunch was before I offered to pay, else _you will be the one paying on our way back."_

            "I didn't!  If you hadn't gotten to it before me, you know I would've paid!" he said, falling for her tease, and putting his hands up in surrender.

            "Foolish Takeru, I know you didn't know," she giggled.  "I was only playing."

            Takeru was about to respond again when the voice over the PA came on again.  _"__Kyoto__,  __Kyoto__.  If this is your stop, please watch your step and we hope you enjoyed your trip."_

            "Guess that's our cue," Takeru said, picking up his Katana case and suitcase.  "Hello Kyoto!"

            After they disembarked, Takeru and Hikari caught a shuttle to their hotel.  However, as the driver began to pull out of his parking spot, a heavy impenetrable fog swept in without warning.  The fog was so thick, that the driver couldn't see two meters beyond the shuttle's front end, and he had to stop and pull back into his old spot.

            "Sorry folks, but we'll be stuck here for a while," the driver said, apologizing to the seven or so people in the shuttle, including Takeru and Hikari.

            "Takeru, I've got a weird feeling about all this," Hikari said looking outside the shuttle at the fog.

            "Bad feeling?"

            "No, its not bad, just . . . weird.  There's no other way to describe it."

            A moment later, Hikari's weird feeling became reality when everyone in the shuttle began to hear an urgent beeping from two unknown and unseen devices.  Well, unknown except for Takeru and Hikari, because the beeping was coming from them.  Takeru reached into his pocket, and sure enough, his digivice was going off, and its display screen was lit up like it usually was been right before going through the Gate.

            "Hikari-chan!  Look!" he said, showing her the screen.

            "Huh?" she asked, confused till she recognized what the digivice was reacting to.  She reached into her purse, and pulled her digivice out and sure enough, it was beeping urgently as well.  "You don't think . . . ?  No!  I thought it ended eight years ago!"

            "Apparently not," Takeru said, tightening his grip on his katana case just as they faded from the Real World before the stunned and amazed eyes of the five other shuttle passengers like dreams after the dreamer wakes up, clearly present one moment and gone the next.

            "Will whoever's cell phone that is either shut it off or . . ." the driver began as he turned around and saw that he was suddenly two passengers short, and that the remaining passengers all looked like they had just seen ghosts.

            "Hey, wasn't a young couple sitting there just a moment ago?"  the driver asked, puzzled.  "I could've sworn that there had been."

***

            It wasn't like their usual trip to the Digital World.  Instead of being of all possible colors randomized and tossed about, the passage was covered in some oily black ooze and unnatural blue-white lightning crackled and collided, threatening to suddenly strike the two dimensional travelers.  As he was being pulled along, Takeru got a sick feeling that the battle with darkness had just been reignited, and that their side wasn't faring too well.  However, even if he wanted to, he couldn't express his sentiments to Hikari, as the static hiss in the tunnel was deafening, like someone was projecting the sound of a dial-up modem busy connecting to the internet to a large amplifier turned all the way up.  Thankfully, their trip started and ended in a matter of moments.  Takeru was glad to be out of the gate tunnel.  That was, until he saw where he and Hikari were going to land.

            "Oh crap!" was all he had time to say till he splashed head first into a fresh water lake.

            The next thing Takeru knew, he felt a strong arm grabbing onto him and hauling him out of the water.  Takeru took a moment to get his bearings till he looked around for his benefactor.  He immediately spotted him reaching down into the lake and pulling a soaking wet Hikari onto the shore, then grabbed a slowly sinking case, which was right below the surface and falling.

            "Sorry about that," their benefactor said.  He was dressed in a white hooded robe with wood-brown hems, and his hood covered his face, though his voice sounded strangely familiar.  It wasn't till he tossed back his hood, did the two humans realize just who he was.

            "Gennai!" they both said simultaneously.

            Surprised at speaking at the same time, Takeru and Hikari immediately turned their heads towards each other, and Takeru nearly stunned himself again.  Hikari's top, while modest when dry, became like a window pane when wet.  Takeru felt as if all the little blood vessels in his nose were about to rupture, and he hurriedly had to turn away before he embarrassed himself.  Hikari instantly realized she was exposed, and immediately covered her breasts with her arms, and glowered evilly at Gennai.

            "Gennai!" she snapped, anger sharpening her words, "You could've picked a better spot!"

            "I . . . I'm sorry, Hikari," Gennai apologized, eyes averted.  "I'm somewhat out of practice, and was several meters off.  You should've landed safely on the bank."

            "Just be glad Hikari-chan isn't the one with the katana."  Takeru joked dryly, picking himself up.  

            "Well, be glad that you didn't land in the trees," Gennai said, slightly annoyed.

            "Hey, take it easy, Gennai," Takeru said, trying to diffuse the situation.  "Hikari-chan and I have both had a hectic day," and added "especially Hikari-chan" under his breath.

            "Sorry I snapped, Gennai," Hikari said coming up beside Takeru, "But making me into a wet T-shirt contestant isn't a smart way to get a friendly greeting out of me.  Apology accepted, though."

            "Good, because I didn't yank you both out of the Real World just to say hello."

            "I think we noticed," Takeru said, his tone souring slightly.  "The gate tunnel looked like it was possessed."

            "Yes.  That's why you weren't brought in via one of the established gates.  I couldn't risk you two getting detected coming in.  However, I'll explain that later.  For now, lets get down to my house.  I have some large towels that you two can wrap up in while your clothes dry."

***

            Even in the summer afternoon heat, it didn't take Takeru and Hikari long before they started getting chilled from their soaking wet clothes.  By the time Gennai had led them down the rock staircase to his house, the both of them were visibly shivering.  Gennai found them towels, then realized he also still had a few pairs of hakama1 and iagi2 that they could wear as well.  Half an hour later after they were not quite so damp and in dry clothes, Gennai fixed hot tea to warm them up.  Now they were sitting beside each other in Gennai's study, where eleven years ago, Gennai had explained about the eighth child and of Vamdemon's gate.  Now the study, instead of being mostly barren, was not filled with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with books of all kinds.  A currently unlit fireplace occupied the spot where a window used to be, and a couch, easy chair, and a regular table with cushions arrayed around it were the only furniture in the room.  Adjoining the study was a smaller study, which was occupied by Gennai's computer, desk, and shelves of scrolls.  Gennai sat himself down in the easy chair, and handed the two friends their tea.

            "I think I owe you two some explanations," he began.  He produced a small remote and cued a hidden holographic projector.  Before Takeru and Hikari, three worlds were displayed.  "These three worlds are Earth, the Digital World, and the realm known to you as the Dark Ocean.  I know you two have been to the Dark Ocean before, but do you know about who or what is actually there?"

            "Dagomon," Takeru growled.  "He's made himself known several times."

            "So, he's tried for his goal several times before.  This isn't good."

            "What do you mean 'tried for his goal'?" Hikari asked straightforwardly, trying not to shiver at the ice which shot down her back at Gennai's words.

            "His ultimate goal, power.  And according to the prophecy, he can get it by sacrificing and absorbing the Light."

            "What prophecy, Gennai?" Takeru asked, not liking the way the conversation was now going.

            Gennai put down his tea and his face went from a casual expression to one of absolute seriousness.  When he spoke, he seemed an eerie replica of himself,

"Balance now, threatened be

A battle of Heaven's lightning and devil's sea

Two outcomes the battle may yield

Hell's victory, or vanquish, contest of sword and shield.

Two champions each side shall claim

 War they shall till one side doth remain.

If darkness' deception destroys the Light

Infinity will be ruled by evil might

Though if light's wrath can smother Evil's will

Balance restored, peace once again reigns still.

For Light, be there mortals Heaven blessed

Twice before into its service pressed

Rock of Hope and Namesake of Light

Committed to Heaven they do fight.

Of Hell's dark denizens be there two

Unmatched in cruelty, many they slew

Lord of rape and King of blackened sea

Satan's champions, things that should not be.

Oh that my words proven false will be

That such a battle no good being may ever see.

But the Truth I know I do speak

Forewarned by Good Master whom I seek

I charge ye be watchful with ready sword

That ye may hold back Satan's evil horde."

            An eerie silence filled the quiet study for a good minute after Gennai recited the ancient poem and prophecy.  All that could be heard was the dampened rumble of thunder from the void-black storm clouds covering the sky.  Takeru looked over at Hikari, and her calm outward demeanor had all but shattered, and she was visibly shaken, and Takeru put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

            "I won't let you go through this alone, Hikari-chan," he said, firmly, trying to be strong even though he was even more shaken than she, as his talent with language caused him to see a deeper and more dire warning in the prophecy.  "We _will get through this."_

            "You should hope so, Takeru," Gennai said, his face still showing the dark foreboding look of absolute seriousness.  "If you two are defeated in this war, all will be lost.  If the Digital World falls, there will be no saving the Real World."

            "Dagomon is one of our enemies, but who is the other?" Hikari asked, drawing strength from Takeru and from defenses she had set up since the last time Dagomon had tried to come for her.

            "I'm not sure, Hikari, but I have a feeling that you two have faced him before.  Ever since Belial Vamdemon was destroyed, I've been keeping my eye on the Dark Ocean, never mind my methods, and there have been some disturbing rumors going around.  It seems the word there is that Dagomon is in league with Baal, who is worshipped even above Dagomon.  This Baal could be the other enemy."

            Eerie silence once descended once again.  Takeru was running the name Baal through his mind, sure he'd heard the name before somewhere at sometime.  Then it struck him.  Biblical mythology!  His mind traced back to a book he had for mythological reference, and its section on biblical mythology had really interested him.

            "Gennai," Takeru said abruptly, breaking the silence.  "Do you have a book called Mythology in the Ancient World?"

            "I think I do.  Let me check," Gennai said, getting up and going to a section of books on his bookshelf.  He pulled one out and handed it to Takeru.  "Is this what you're looking for?"

            Takeru nodded, and flipped to a certain spot in the book.

            "Baal." he said, reading the passage aloud, "Biblical myth.  False god in the Christian Bible.  Was worshipped for a time by the Israelites despite many warnings from the God of Abraham not do so or else.  The priests of Baal in Judah and Israel were executed by the prophet Elijah because they failed to obey the God of Abraham, their ancestry.  Origins:  Canaanite for 'lord' or 'master' and Baal, as a deity, was worshipped around the globe in many forms till Christianity became the official religion under Emperor Constantine.  Baal is only worshipped today by small, disorganized demon cults, whose practices are suspected to involve human sacrifice, mutilation, and cannibalism among other things."

            Takeru shuddered as he marked the page and shut the book.  "At least he's a myth," he said, "But that doesn't seem to stop those who worship him."

            Gennai nodded as if recalling something, then shuddered as if he remembered something he'd rather have forgotten.  "Right . . . now I remember.  Those are no myths, Takeru.  Human sacrifice to Baal was real, very real.  This is real."

            "It's surreal, you know," Hikari said, her voice sounding emotionally withdrawn.  "I'm just a normal girl, not some saint.  And I know Takeru is just a normal guy, even though he does act like a saint sometimes.  So why are we here fighting gods of all things!?"

            "Maybe we aren't as normal as we wish we were, Hikari-chan.  We are Chosen whether we like it or not."

            "I guess so, Takeru.  But how do we fight Dagomon and Baal?"

            Takeru shrugged, and both of them looked at Gennai, questioning looks on their faces.  "You're the one who called us here, Gennai," Hikari said, "How do we fight these two?"

            "War," Gennai responded bluntly, no hint of teasing or joking in his voice.  "To stop them, we have to go to war.  As you have seen, something is happening.  That thing is Dagomon.  He's already got troops here, I'm sure of it.  Many of them are probably monitoring every Gate entrance.  That's why I pulled you in the way I did.  Till Dagomon realizes what happened, he'll still assume that all of the Chosen are still on Earth.  He'll be looking there until he can't find you on Earth anymore, or one of his agents reports Gate activity.  Once he has his forces assembled, we'll be facing an invasion on a grand scale.  He may not be a Digimon, but ever since I've been keeping tabs on him, he's been focused completely on the Digital and Real Worlds."

            Hikari shivered uncontrollably.  "We saw evidence of that this morning."

            "What do you mean, Hikari?" Gennai asked, concerned.  "What happened?"

            "Let it be, Gennai," Takeru interjected, calmly.  "It's not right for Hikari-chan to have to relive that so soon after it happened."

            "No, Takeru, please," Hikari said, gently removing his hand from her shoulder, "I probably need to let it out anyway."

            Giving as much detail as she could bear, Hikari began to retell her experience to Gennai.  As she told it from her point of view, Takeru began to relive the incident himself.  As Hikari went deeper into the retelling, Takeru's anger began to boil up inside him.  How dare Dagomon lay even so much as a tentacle on her!  How DARE he try and touch her in that manner!  How DARE he desire to have her sacrificed!  How DARE Dagomon bring such suffering to his beloved Hikari!  HOW DARE HE!  Seething hatred for Dagomon and his minions swept through Takeru like a Tsunami, and pain for Hikari's suffering raised the waves of his hatred to unbearable heights.  When Hikari got to the part where Dagomon tried to touch her while she was dressing, Takeru couldn't hold his rage in any longer, and he abruptly rose, excused himself, and quickly left the room in a foul mood.  He only stopped briefly to retrieve his Katana from its case, then went outside to work off his anger.

            Takeru unsheathed his sharpened steel iaito katana from its saya with a flourish.  He brought the lethal weapon and tool into the forward guard position, raised the blade high till the pommel, the Fuchi Kashira was at the same level as his forehead, and sliced down with a vicious forward strike.  Acutely aware of where the blade tip was at all times, he stopped the blade when it was less than a centimeter from the ground.  His blade now in the lower guard position, he swept the katana back and to the left, crossing his right hand over his left.  Lower left guard.  He released a swift diagonal strike ending upward and outward from his right shoulder, above his head.  From there he twisted his wrists swiftly and precisely, whirling the blade above his head and then dropped his blade into a powerful horizontal slice.  It wasn't working.  His blood still pulsated with pure anger.  If Dagomon were in front of him, Takeru would have sliced the demon to shreds before the being knew what was going on.  Just the recollection of Hikari bound in those tentacles reaching out for him made his heart break and filled him with raging hatred and horror.  He couldn't stand it!  He had almost lost his beloved Hikari to that wretched, insane being!  And in that moment, Takeru came as close as he had ever come to losing control over himself.

            "HURRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!" he roared in a terribly powerful voice of rage, bringing his blade about, and, envisioning Dagomon infront of him, began to decimate the vision.  In a whirlwind of slices and cuts, all woven together with amazing speed, and accuracy, he attacked his imagined opponent.  If anything living had been in the path of his blade, it surely would have perished had it not been similarly armed.  His whirlwind of anger and hatred directed towards the Dark King of the Undersea who was currently present only in his mind, lasted for what seemed like an eternity to Takeru.

            Finally, his attacks slowed, and eventually stopped.  Takeru, still gripping his katana, put his hands on his knees, panting.  Gennai, who had seen a large portion of Takeru's battle with his own internal rage, walked over to the young swordsman, and put his hands on Takeru's shoulders as a father might do when calming down an enraged or emotionally hurt son.

            "Takeru?  Takeru!  It's all right!  Hikari is here, safe, out of Dagomon's grasp.  You did not fail her, Takeru!"

            But Takeru did not hear.  Even his heavy breathing came in through clenched teeth, and Gennai could see that Takeru's eyes remained clouded with fear, rage, and hatred.  Fear for Hikari.  Rage for what had been done to Hikari.  Hatred towards Dagomon and all evil for disrupting Hikari's life.  Gennai stepped back, far back, as he did not know if Takeru could tell that a living person stood in front of him, in range of his blade.

            "Gennai!  I've never seen him like this!  What's wrong with Takeru?" Hikari asked, desperately.  "I need to go to him!"

            Gennai put out an arm, blocking Hikari from going off of the porch to Takeru who was regaining his energy in the middle of the yard.  "Don't, Hikari.  Let him release it all.  They are his demons, let him handle them."

            "But they're there because of me, right!?  He worries about me!  Dagomon trying to take me is what's causing this, isn't it?  I'm the one who's causing him this pain, Gennai!  Let me go to him!"

            "No, Hikari!"  Gennai snapped angrily.  "If you should blame ANYONE, you should blame Dagomon!  Takeru chose to agree to Taichi's promise as well as Sora's eleven years ago, and he chose soon after to keep that promise for his entire life.  _He chose to worry over and look after you, not you.  Dagomon tried to take you, and Takeru blames himself.  Let him battle Dagomon in his own mind.  He shouldn't have to, but like yourself, Takeru takes on burdens as his own that are not, in reality, his own.  He needs to feel some absolution."_

            "Gennai . . ." Hikari said, as she saw Gennai's eyes loose focus of objects, as he began to relive a part of his past.  "How do you know all this about Takeru?"

            "Because I used to be just like him long ago." Gennai responded in a timeless voice, seeing his past instead of the present.  "However, I truly did fail her that time.  It was a pain no man should ever have to face.  It took me many years to understand that it wasn't my fault and that I did not truly fail my Chihiro.  The pain still lives deeply within me, however.  I remember facing a pain much like his, except his is not as unbearable as mine was."

            "Why is that?"

            "You lived through your ordeal thanks to Takeru's intervention.  Not even the mightiest army could have saved Chihiro from death, let alone a single samurai.  Believe me, Hikari, Dagomon and Baal have many crimes to pay for even if it was by their worshipers hands and not their own directly."

            "You mean . . . ." Hikari began, but was interrupted when Takeru let out a terrible battle cry.  It was filled with hurt and rage, and as Hikari heard it, her knees buckled as her heart broke for Takeru.

***

            Takeru could no longer distinguish reality from nightmare.  Over and over and over again in his mind the images played.  No matter what he did, he could not save her from death, torture or ravaging.  Her screams dominated his mind, overwhelmed it.  _"No!  Stay Away!  Help me Takeru!  Help me!"  All he heard were her agonized screams._

            _"You cannot save her, Paladin.  No matter how hard you try, she shall be ours."_

_            "NO!  You can't have her!"_

_            "You don't know what you're talking about!  This is beyond you!  You can do nothing now!  You have failed!"_

_            "Wrong!  There's always a chance!  I love her too much to fail her!"_

_            "Face it, boy!  You have failed!  You are a failure!"_

_            "Stop it!"_

_            "You are a breaker of your promise!  You can't protect her like you promised!  Hear her screams!  See her face!  You can do nothing!  You FAILED!  Just as you failed in the past to protect her, you have failed now!  Pathetic!"_

_            "You're wrong!  That's not true!  I saved her from things such as you many times before!"_

_            "Then why did another of your comrades have to protect her when I pulled her into my domain a second time?"_

_            "I did what I could!  It was your fault for doing so, dammit!  Now stop it!  Let me through to Hikari-chan!"_

_            "She's DEAD!  You FAILED HER!"_

_            "NO!  LIAR!  She's still alive!"_

_            "Failure!  Failure!  Failure!  Failure!  False one!  You broke your promise!"_

_            "Shut up."_

_            "Failure!"_

_            "Shut up!"_

_            "False one!"_

_            "I said to shut up!"_

_            "Breaker of promises!"_

_            "SHUT . . . UP!!!!!"_

            "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"  He bellowed, having recovered his energy.

            "Takeru!  Stop it!"  Hikari cried out.

            _"You're a figment of my imagination!  Go away and stop torturing me!"_

            _"She's not a figment, Paladin!  You will still fail her eventually"  It was the image of Dagomon, standing, before him, contempt in the demon's eyes.  __"You can't prevent her from becoming my lovely sacrifice.  I wonder what she feels like . . ."_

            Takeru stuck at his hallucination with a swift forward strike, black blood spurted from the gaping gash along the creature's midsection.  "**DON'T!"  He severed a tentacle, "****YOU!"  Off went another tentacle, "****EVER!"  Two more tentacles fell by Takeru's deadly blade, "****TOUCH!"  He leapt up with tremendous agility, a downward slice sent two more tentacles to their fate, "****HIKARI-CHAN!"  On his downward arc, a forward strike took off the final two tentacles on the imaginary Dagomon's body, "****AGAIN!"**

            Takeru landed gracefully, and to his eyes, his blade was dripping with thick, black blood, and it only fed his hatred more.  Pathetic creature!  Evil demon!  He was going to kill it!  Send it back to Hell!  With a final roar, Takeru poured all his anger, pain, hatred, rage, and contempt into one final strike.  Low left guard.  Upward strike.  He leapt, launching himself into the air.  "**DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!"  He released his strike, and as his blade cut through tissue, organs, bone and blood vessel, a tremendous energy was released.  As his swing finished, a massive compression wave composed of all the blackness inside Takeru, boomed, obliterating the imaginary Dagomon from Takeru's mind.**

            He had won, he had defeated the blackness.  But at what cost?  Confused over what was reality and what was nightmare, he assumed Hikari was dead.  That her voice had only been a cruel trick.  Gone.  Dead.  Never to see her smile, hear her laugh.  Gone.  In the confusion of the aftermath, Takeru collapsed in grief, sobbing with the pain of loss.

***

            In that plane of existence where time has no meaning, the Hell Demon Baal laughed.  He truly enjoyed toying with strong minds.  The violation of the mind was a much more difficult and challenging task than violating the body, and the result was far more exquisite, like perfectly aged wine.  He preferred the combination of both, which was what gave him the title 'god of rape' or 'lord of rape.'  He had severely weakened the Paladin's defenses, though they would soon be rebuilt because _she was there.  Oh how he would enjoy the feel of her flesh, the taste of her body, and the __anguish!  Hers would be especially entertaining.  Then telling the Paladin exactly what he, Baal, had done to his beloved, and telling him the truth irrefutable!  The Paladin would break like no other, and  his chief priest-servant Dagomon would personally perform the sacrifice!_

            Such irony, such great irony!  Like a black hole, he would swallow the Light!  The balance would be destroyed!  His master's plan for the acceleration of the Final Day for temporal beings would begin!  No, Hell would prove that God did not merely allow their miserable existence, but, instead, could do nothing about it!  Baal held only contempt for those who had cast him out of Heaven, and he would have his revenge on them and their servants, especially His servants such as the Paladin and the girl.  Doing so would gain him even more power, placing him as Lucifer's equal!  The final battle would be won, not lost as God, said when sentence had been pronounced on Baal and his cohorts in Heaven!  He would have his total revenge!  It would be his greatest violation, greatest glory!

***

            Takeru slammed his katana into the ground point-first, and slumped down onto the ground, tears streaming swiftly and silently down his face.  Gone.  She was gone from his life forever.  He'd heard her screams and sobs!  He'd heard her cry out and then be silenced forever!  He had failed her.  A miserable Takeru lay on the ground, unable to tell that he was gravely mistaken, confused, completely vulnerable.  Nightmare and reality were the same to him now.  Defenses shattered, spirit broken, he felt he had nothing to live for.  No reason to keep on living.  He just wanted to slip into darkness and die.  He just wanted . . . .

            Hikari, seeing Takeru collapse immediately ran over to him.  "Takeru!" she cried out, "Takeru, are you ok?"

            She fell onto her knees as she reached him, and was confused when she saw that he didn't even respond.  He just stared blankly outward, tears streaming down his face.  Was there nothing she could do for him?  Was there no way to reach him?  As soon as she saw that his outburst had finally ended, she'd been relieved, and now her heart broke all over again to see Takeru like this.

            "Confusion."  Gennai said simply.  "It wasn't just his own anger.  Something or someone was toying with his mind."

            "Dagomon . . ." Hikari growled.  "Add another charge to his list of crimes."

            "I don't think it was Dagomon," Gennai said, pondering the situation.  "Baal, most likely.  From what you told me, I think Dagomon is still sulking after having himself burned by Takeru.  Besides, Dagomon doesn't yet have the power to enter minds.  Baal does.  In any case, Takeru has been wounded very badly.  What he needs now is someone to care for him."

            "I'll do that.  But how can I help heal him?  He won't even answer me!"

            "Do you remember how you helped the supposed Scubamon3 back when Dagomon brought you to the Dark Ocean for the first time?"

            Hikari nodded vaguely.  "I think so, yes."

            "Takeru needs something like that.  He needs your strength.  This is what Light does, Hikari.  It heals those who serve it or are of it, and it burns those who are of darkness or who serve darkness.  Heal him with your Light."

            "I'm not sure I can, Gennai.  I'm not sure I can bring forth that Light," Hikari said, nervously.

            "Not if you doubt yourself like that, Hikari," Gennai responded.  "Self-doubt is one of the greatest weapons you can give to your enemies.  Don't do it.  You have the strength, Hikari.  Takeru knows it, and so should you."

            "I'll give it my best," Hikari said.

            Gennai nodded.  "I'll go and prepare rooms for you two."

            Hikari moved a bit closer to Takeru.  She shook him, trying to get him to look at her.  "Takeru, its me, Hikari.  Please look at me, Takeru!  Don't you recognize me, your Hikari-chan?"

            No response.  She thought it was worth a try anyway.  She concentrated, and focused on that part of herself from which she drew strength.  She drew on the friendship of her fellow Chosen, from Miyako, Daisuke, Ken, Iori, Sora, Yamato, Koushiro, Mimi, Joe, and, Takeru himself.  She drew on the love from her family, Tou-san, Kaa-san, and her beloved Nii-chan.  However, it wasn't enough to bring out her Light.  She couldn't let Takeru down.  She couldn't bear it if she let him down after he'd done so much for her so selflessly.  After all they had been through together, she couldn't bear to see him become a vegetable, effectively dead to her; she just couldn't bear it.  She wouldn't give up so easily, she owed Takeru that much at least, for all that he had done for her.  She refused to give up on the man who had been the best friend to her that there ever could be.  

            The light that burst forth in her hands was spectacular!  Radiating warmth and comfort, it flowed in, out, and over Takeru's entire body.  Life returned to Takeru's face, and his eyes were now no longer blank, but full of life again themselves.  With Hikari's help, Takeru sat up and he looked at her, and seeing him look at her after the scare she'd just went through was too much for her.

            "Takeru . . .," she whispered, tears of joy just beginning to trickle out of her eyes..

            "Hikari-chan?" he asked, disoriented, and confused.  "Are you ok?  You're crying."

            "Takeru!" she cried happily.  "Oh, Takeru!  Thank god!"

            "Hikari-chan?  What happened to me?"

            Hikari helped him to his feet, as he had been almost totally drained of all energy in him.  "We'll talk about it in the morning, Takeru," she said as she led him into the house.  She brought him to his room, and when he lay down in his bed, he fell asleep almost instantly.

            Hikari covered him up, and, for a time, watched him sleep peacefully.  Finally, she got up to go to bed herself, but, before she closed the door, she poked her head back in.

            "Oyasumi nasai4, Takeru," she said softly, then closed the door and went off to bed herself.

            "Oyasumi nasai, Hikari-chan," Takeru whispered back once the door was shut.

**To Be Continued . . .**

1 & 2:  A Hakama is the bottom portion of a martial arts training outfit, especially in dojos of the sword arts.  The iagi is the top.

3:  Scubamon is also synonymous with Divermon.  I am not using the Japanese version of the name which is Hangeyomon, mainly because I don't want to confuse my readers of the previous version, and also, the majority of people know these digimon as Scubamon.

4:  means Good night


	3. Revelations Before the Sunrise

Having Faith: The Saga of Hope & Light:  Chapter 3

**Prelude to Darkness III:**

**Revelations before the Sunrise******

Author's Note:  Gomen nasi, minna-san [forgive me, everyone] for the extreme lateness and briefness (comparatively) of this chapter, however, as I have recently said in my profile, college has just taken up so much of my time that it's been a chore to find time to write no matter how badly I've wanted to get some done.  Still, this 'short' is fairly important in the chapter, and I focus on Hikari a lot more, except for a brief, but revealing scene between Gennai and Takeru.  Chapter 4 will be on the way sometime, and maybe during Spring Break I can get it written in it's entirely (chapter 4, that is, not the whole book, lol).  Also, I try my hand at writing "older Taichi" this chapter, so if it's in here when this is posted, then it's met my beta's rigorous approval ;).  I owe a BIG 'thank you' to KarenSedai for being my beta reader.  Between graduate work and her own writing, I'm glad that she's found time to proofread and make recommendations to "Having Faith."  Domo arigatou, Karen-senpai! :)

*****

             As the sun began to creep over the horizon, Takeru opened his eyes.  As he rubbed the sleep out of them, he tried to remember the events of the night before, but found his mind to be a blur of confusion and mixed emotion.  Anger, hatred, love, sympathy, relief, and terror; all were mixed into one, and Takeru couldn't make any sense of it.  As for his actions, he had no memory.  The last thing he recalled was trying to stop himself from reliving the events in which Dagomon tried to take Hikari away again.  After that, his mind was blank except for the sea of mixed emotions inside him.  As he stood up and stretched, he realized that he was still wearing the hakama and cotton top that Gennai had given him to wear.  Still in an early morning half-stupor, he was about to shrug off the fact that he was wearing yesterday's clothing, however as his eyes scanned the room, they spotted fresh clothing by the door.  His clothes from the real world lay there at the door, as did a fresh pair of hakama and iagi.  Opting for the fresh hakama and iagi, Takeru changed and walked into the main hallway, which led to the kitchen, dining area, study, and outside.  _"A bit of morning meditation couldn't hurt, I guess,"_ he thought to himself as he walked outside.

            Takeru found a spot by the tiny bridge under which flowed a small stream.  A wave of nostalgia washed over him as he began to meditate.  It only seemed like yesterday that he was here, seeing Gennai in person for the first time.  However, that yesterday was the yesterday of eleven years ago, and Takeru was no longer the same person he had been the last time he was here.  _"I didn't even know Hikari then."_

            "Ohayou gozaimasu1, Takeru," Gennai greeted, coming up to where Takeru sat with his legs crossed and eyes closed.

            "Ohayo gozaimasu, Gennai," Takeru replied coolly.  "Are you always up this early?"

            "Always.  Takeru, do you know what happened to you last night?"  Gennai asked somberly.

            Takeru shook his head.  "No, I can't remember a thing.  Just confused emotions ranging from hate to love.  What did happen?"

            "What's the last thing you can remember?"

            Takeru pulled himself out of his medititative state to concentrate on his memories.  "The last thing I remember is reliving what happened to Hikari as she was retelling it to you."

            "I see.  Do you want me to tell you what happened?"

            Takeru shuddered as he reflected on the emotions, which marked the events of the evening past.  "I'm not sure I really want to know, Gennai."

            "Well, which is it, Takeru?  Yes or no?  Ignorance can be bliss, but it can also be deadly.  You should already know this."

            Takeru stood up and turned to face the sage.  "In that case, Gennai, do tell me."

***

            As Gennai told him what had happened, Takeru began to remember, as if someone had unlocked a hidden place in his memory.  Takeru shuddered to think that Baal had invaded his mind and tried to drive him mad.  Takeru knew his biggest strength against the darkness was also his biggest weakness, but never had he thought that those who served the darkness would realize that.  Wait a moment, that wasn't it!  It was true that his hatred of evil was his biggest weakness, but only if he was arrogant enough to think that evil would never realize that.  _"Baka!__  How could I be so foolish?"_

            After Gennai finished his account of last evening, Takeru cast his eyes down.  "It was my own fault that Baal got to me," he said.  "I know I hate evil, which is a paradox of sorts.  It's my greatest strength against the darkness and it's my biggest weakness as well.  I just never thought that evil would ever realize that truth as well."

            Gennai simply nodded and motioned for Takeru to follow him.  "It's good that you realize that.  Never underestimate the darkness in any respect.  You must keep your defenses against evil up at all times, especially in the face of despair."

             Gennai led Takeru across the small bridge and along a dirt track to a grove of about ten trees surrounding a clearing.  Once inside the grove, Takeru saw a grave stone no bigger than a thick book, of  in the middle of the clearing.  Gennai walked up to it and knelt down in front of it.  Seeing that Takeru hung back slightly, Gennai motioned him closer.

            "I want to show you this, Takeru," he said.

            Takeru came closer till he could see the inscription on the gravestone.  There were no elaborate etchings in the gravestone, just simple words; however, the words struck a chord within him, and Takeru suddenly saw the connection between himself and Gennai.

_Chihiro_

_Aisai, Ryouyuu_

_Aishiteru _2

            "Gennai . . . are you saying? . . ."

            "Yes, Takeru," Gennai said solemnly.  "Evil will do anything to break down your defenses . . . _anything_!  Do not let them do it!"

            For a while Takeru couldn't say a word.  The reality of what could happen struck him full on, and he felt like running back to the house to make sure Hikari was still okay.  However, some other part of him told him to stay, as if there was more he should hear or see.

            "How?" Takeru asked, thinking of no other way of asking.  "What happened?"

            Gennai stood up slowly and faced Takeru, his face . . . sad, and . . . remorseful.  Takeru had never seen either of those two expressions on Gennai's face, and seeing them now made him even more anxious to know what happened to the woman he had obviously loved.

            "I'm not of the Digital World, Takeru," Gennai said, bluntly.  "Neither is Chihiro.  We both were fleeing Dagomon's forces when we came here.  This very house I have here is one I built as Chihiro's and my home, our home.  However, what neither of us knew was that Dagomon had Chihiro on a list of sacrifices to be made to him.

            "For years we lived here, happy and content.  Chihiro even became pregnant, and we were even happier.  However, before our child could be born, Dagomon found us.  Late one night, Chihiro got up to get something, and I figured it was one of her midnight cravings, so I went back to sleep.  Not more than five minutes later, I was awakened by her screams.  I jumped straight out of bed and tried to find my katana, and dashed into the kitchen only to see her being dragged into a dark portal of some kind.  She was wrapped in eight oily black tentacles, and the expression of sheer terror and fear in her eyes is now forever burned into my mind.  I had gotten there too late.  As I tried to reach for the first tentacle, she had been pulled in, and the portal snapped shut.  She was gone, and would be dead soon, I knew that much.  Dagomon even made the pain harder when a vision was forced on me days later and I was made to watch her fate.  I was devastated.

            "At first, I was numb from the shock, I felt nothing except an painful emptiness.  Then my defenses totally collapsed and I went mad with rage.  For at least a month, I was like you were last night, except I acted out even more.  For days on end I fought and killed, and fought and killed Dagomon over and over again in the most brutal and painful fashion.  However, my rage ended as I moved onto the grief-stricken stage.  During that time I barely ate anything, nor did I feel I needed anything.  It took me at least a year to get myself back under control, and that was when I planted this grove of trees, carved that gravestone, and chiseled out the inscriptions.  From then on, I come here every day to this place, to talk to her.  Somehow, I feel Chihiro is here, that even though I know she is now in Heaven, she is still here.  However, if I could go back all those many years to the night she was taken, I would do so, and I would have not gone back to sleep, and I would've had my katana right by my bed.  Even today, I long for her to be by my side.  And our child . . . I never even knew if I was going to have a son or a daughter.  I'm just glad that our child didn't suffer.  Takeru, don't let what happened to me, happen to you.  Be ever vigilant, and know that Dagomon and his forces are more than willing to go through someone else just to get to you, so be ever vigilant for their sake as well.  Do you get what I'm trying to say?"

            Takeru could only nod, as he had no words that would be appropriate for the situation at hand.

            Without a word, Gennai walked out of the grove and back towards the house.  However Takeru stayed behind for a bit.  Once he was sure Gennai was out of ear shot, Takeru went back to the gravestone.  _"I swear I won't let there be a need for another gravestone here, Hikari.  I won't let them use you to get to me."_

***

            When Gennai reached the house, he saw Hikari was already up and moving around.  She was out on the deck gazing out to where the sun was rising.  The ominous thunder clouds of the night before had passed, and now the sky was clear of all dark clouds; however, Gennai knew differently.  Those storm clouds weren't gone, they were just waiting for the right time to reappear.  However, now wasn't the time for such thoughts.  He had guests, after all.

            "Ohayou, Hikari," Gennai said, waving to Hikari, who stood with her now dry clothes on instead of the borrowed hakama and iagi.

            "Ohayou gozaimasu, Gennai!" Hikari responded when she saw him approaching.  "Beautiful morning, isn't it?"

            "It is.  I'm glad, though.  They will be very few in number in the coming days."

            "What? .  .  . oh, the war," Hikari was slightly puzzled until she realized what he'd meant.  "I guess so.  Too bad Takeru is probably still asleep.  I've watched a few sunsets with him before, but never a sunrise.  I thought now would be as good a time as any."

            Gennai heard the regret in her words, and knew what she meant.  Memories of his own love drifted back into his mind.  Memories of long night walks along the beaches of Nerab; days spent walking through the market district of the capital city; summer evenings spent lying next to each other in total bliss.  All were memories never to happen again.  That joy had been robbed from him many many years ago.

            Gennai shrugged off the pain of loss, and put it in the back of his mind.  No need to show it to others.  "Actually, Takeru is in that grove over at the edge of the yard."

            "Arigatou, Gennai," Hikari said, as she started off towards the grove Gennai had pointed to.

            After Hikari set off, Gennai sighed and tilted his head to the sky as if he were speaking to someone.  "Please don't let what happened to me happen to them.  Please guide them along the path You set for them."

***

            Hikari found Takeru right where Gennai said she would find him.  It had been a pleasant walk to the grove, but farther than she's originally imagined.  It had taken her a good two to three minutes to reach the grove of trees even though she had walked quickly.  Still, once she reached the grove of trees with the clearing in the middle, she knew she'd found him.  She didn't know how, but as the years after their last adventure in the Digital World had passed, she began to notice when he was nearby and when he was not.  When he was near, it felt to her like all was right with the world in some way no matter the situation.  Even when Dagomon had almost taken her, she'd been shaken up pretty badly, but somehow she'd felt that she would be all right in.  Even if she'd been dragged into the Dark Ocean, she knew she'd never be sacrificed, that she'd get out alive.  However, when Takeru was away, out of earshot or sight, she felt a small, almost unnoticeable pang of anxiety.  Somehow something was never _just_ right when Takeru was not near.  She'd always attributed these feelings to their long and close friendship, but now she didn't know.  Maybe it was a sign; some strange sign, that she was . . . _in love_ . . . with him?  No, it wasn't possible.  At least to her it wasn't.  Takeru was a close and dear friend to her, but that was where it would forever stand.  After all, that's the way Sora and Taichi were, and even though those two were still close friends, they would never be anything more even if Yamato and Sora broke up.  _"Just as it is with 'niisan, so it's probably going to be with me.  I could never love Takeru more; we'll never be more than we are right now."_

            Because she was so deep in thought, she didn't hear the sound of sandaled feet walking out of the grove, nor even the 'oh so typical', "Ohayou, Hikari-chan."  It wasn't until she felt the soft tap on her shoulder did she realize that the one person dominating her thoughts at the moment was standing right next to her with his gentle smile.  She gave a small gasp of shock, taking a half step backwards.

            "O . . . Ohayo, Takeru," she stuttered at first.  "I didn't hear you walk out."

            "Ohayou ne, Hikari-chan," he grinned in amusement.  "Sorry I startled you."

            "It's ok, Takeru, I was just thinking about things."

            Takeru's face turned to an expression she'd only occasionally seen on him during their last adventures in the Digital World, but one she knew he'd shown many times in the recent years, a thoughtful look.  "We both seem to be thinking deeply about a lot of things lately," he said after a moment.  "I wonder why."

            "We've got a lot to think about, I guess."

            "Probably, Hikari-chan.  Probably," he said.  Then his face lost its pondering look and returned to that grin of his that Hikari loved to see on him.  "So, an early riser as well this morning, Hikari-chan?"

            She nodded.  "You might say that."  Then hesitantly, and trying ever so hard not to blush as she looked up into his innocent blue eyes, "I wanted to watch the sun rise, and since we've walked several sun sets together, but no sun rises . . . I was wondering if . . . you'd like to this morning."

            For some reason Takeru didn't seem to notice her blushing or her schoolgirl-ish nervousness, both of which would've tipped him off to the fact that something was going on that normally wasn't.  Of that, Hikari was most certain.  _"And he'd be right.  Still, how can I say 'Takeru, I've fallen in love with you,' If I'm not even sure of that fact myself?"_

            "I'd love to, Hikari-chan," he said, with an innocent smile.  "Got a good spot picked out?"

            "How about right here?"

            "Why not."  He agreed, lying down and using his hands as a pillow with his head right by one of the grove trees.

            Hikari sat down beside him on the soft grass, propping herself up on her arms and tilting her head to watch the sun slowly rise above the treetops.  As the sun's warmth began to break over the trees, Hikari heard Takeru sigh in contentment when the sun's light began to warm his face.  "Ne, Hikari-chan," he said.

            "Nani3, Takeru?"

            "I just realized, this is so fitting.  Think about it; watching the sunset is like waving goodbye to light for a time, but watching the sunrise is like saying hello all over again."  He turned to face her with a silly grin on his face, and glanced up at the rising sun, "Ohayou, Hikari."  He looked back over to her and with a smile on his face, said, "And, Ohayou, Hikari no Hikari-chan."

            Hikari was about to give him a playful punch in the arm for his wise-crack, when she realized it might not be a wise crack.  "That's sweet, Takeru.  Arigatou." she said sweetly, genuinely touched, though at the same time she was cursing her beating heart.  _"Why?  Why do I keep feeling like I'm in love with him!  I know it wouldn't work out, and then our friendship would be ruined!  I'd rather be single but still have Takeru as a friend than I would to have that friendship ruined!"_

            Still, she had to admit that it might be worth risking.  _"Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."  It was one of niisan's favorite sayings, and his main reason for some of the stupid relationship choices he'd made in the past.  __"When you finally realize who your heart belongs to, Hikari, you'll realize why I like that saying," Taichi had said to her several weeks earlier when he'd dropped by to 'visit his favorite sister.'  For some reason, she still found that title amusing, probably because it was just her brother being himself.  She remembered their conversation perfectly when she thought on it._

            _"Kyoto, huh?"_ he'd said when she'd told him about the trip.  _"Sounds great._  Maybe you'll realize a bit more about yourself there."__

            "_And what's that supposed to mean?"_  she'd responded.  Another thing about Taichi that made him annoying, but still dear to her, was his constant assumption that he knew a few things about her that she didn't.

            _"Like how you really feel about Takeru.  I mean, come on, Hikari.  I'm sure 'kaasan has talked to you about love before.  It's like being best friends, but better.  And you and Takeru do seem like the absolute best of friends."_

            _"And what if I am in love with him, 'niisan?"_ she'd asked, somewhat exasperated; though she wasn't about to tell him that his words had hit home.  _"What if it doesn't work out?  We'd never be the same to each other again!  I don't want to risk that!  Takeru means too much to me to risk that."_

_            "Hikari, it's not always like that, trust me." He'd said, as he finished his tea and got up.  __"I mean, Sora and I risked it all those years ago and it didn't work out, but if anything, we're closer now.  I mean, I'll never be the same to her as Yamato, but we lost nothing when we realized it wouldn't work out.  Part of me still regrets some of the things I did back then, regrets the stupid teenage stuff, but you know, it was still the real me who did that stuff.  If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been true to myself and Sora and I would've probably had a worse breakup later."_

_            "But that's what I'm afraid of, Taichi." She'd responded, turning to face towards the window and the busy Tokyo cityscape below.  _"I know it sounds conceited, but I don't want any girl to mean more to Takeru than me.  And I don't want to risk that happening by jumping in so suddenly."__

_            Taichi had shaken his head as if she still hadn't gotten what he was saying.  _"I wish I could stay longer to straighten those odd ideas of yours, Hikari, but I've got class in an hour, and right now, it's going to take me that long to get back to campus.  Midday Tokyo traffic is hell, you know."__

            _"I know, Oniisan,"_ she'd reached up to give him a hug.  _"And thank you for dropping by.  I'm always glad to see you."_

            _"Well, I'm glad that I'm still on good terms with one pretty lady in my life,"_ he'd said, tossing his coat over his shoulder, and tossing her a small wave.  _"Ja ne, Hikari."_

            As she brought herself back to the present, she still was questioning herself.  What was it, love or friendship?  She'd just about as admitted to Taichi that she loved Takeru, but she was still unsure.  _"Unsure of whether I love him or unsure of whether I should risk loving him?  I don't know."_

            "Ne, ne, Hikari-chan.  Smell that?" Takeru said, bringing her out of her thoughts . . . again.  Twice in the same hour.  _"Get a hold of yourself, Hikari.  You're tearing yourself apart over Takeru, and you know he'd never want that.  Get a grip, girl!"_

            Hikari gathered her senses and sniffed the air.  Indeed, she did smell something, and it smelled good.  "Mmmm, I do.  Gennai must be fixing breakfast."

            "Hungry, Hikari-chan?"  he asked, getting up.

            At the mention of food, Hikari's stomach growled . . . loudly.  She blushed in slight embarrassment.  "That answer your question?"

            "I'd say it does," he chuckled.  He then held out his hand towards her to help her up.  "Come on, let's go."

***

            At his desk in the great North Tower, Major Tor'nir Draksar of the Imperium Guard felt the pull.  It wasn't a physical sensation, more of a mental tugging, and the Major knew he was being summoned.  Immediately, Draksar rose and left his office and down the great stairwell to the corridor, which led to the main keep.  After reaching the Keep, he followed the path he felt was right, as he also knew he was being guided.  The way to his Lord's audience chamber was an impossible maze, where a wrong turn would end in certain death, and no one had ever memorized the way there, as Lord Dagomon always guided them there himself, and guided them back out of the maze in the same manner.  After a seemingly endless number of disorienting twists and turns, of rising stairwells and descending stairwells, Draksar finally found himself before the two massive barred doors that were the entrance to Lord Dagomon's audience chamber.  The doors began to swing open as soon as Draksar reached them, and once they were open, he entered and prostrated himself before his lord and master, Dagomon.

            "Iä-Sai'bin!  Dagomon fhtagn! Iä!  Iä!" the Major exalted as required.  "I come as you command, my lord!"

            Draksar felt the compulsion to rise and he did so, gazing at the magnificent figure of Lord Dagomon.  Massive and powerful, his Lord sat on a throne made from those who had defied him and were rightfully executed for doing so.  Dagomon's eight tentacles writhed and wriggled on their rests, while Lord Dragomon's blood red eyes gazed down approvingly upon the Major.

            "The sacrifice and her _bale'chok have disappeared from my grasp!"  intoned the mighty ruler of the underseas in a rumbling, unnatural bass.  "FIND them!  Search both the human world and the Digital World!  When you find them, report back to me immediately, for I will deal with them myself!"_

            "Iä! Dagomon!  Iä! Iä!  Baal!"  the Major responded.  "I shall find them, Lord Dragomon!"

*****

Footnotes:

1.  "Ohayou gozaimasu" or just plain "Ohayou" is "good morning" in japanese.  As one might expect, "Ohayou gozaimasu" is a more formal greeting, while "Ohayou" is more casual.  "Ohayou ne" is usually used as a response to "Ohayou."

2.  "Aisai, Ryouyuu.  Aishiteru" means "Beloved wife, friend.  I love you."

3.  "Nani?" means "What?"  Shortened form of "Nani desu ka." which means "What is it?"  If I had just used english, Hikari would've gone on and said "What is it, Takeru?"  But japanese more commonly use "Nani?" or even "Nanda?"  instead of "Nani desu ka." In casual conversation.


	4. Escape

Having Faith: The Saga of Hope & Light:  Chapter 4

**The Art of War:**

**Escape**

Author's Note:  Over one year since I updated . . . I'm really behind the times on this one.  However, I can no longer put forth everything needed to keep this fic regularly updated.  School takes priority, as I'm trying to get my CGPA up enough to look good enough for the NSA to give me an internship for the summer of 2005.  However, I will write when I feel so inclined like I do now.  So, I'm sorry if you like this story and want to see it updated on a regular basis, b/c I'd like to be able to oblige you, but I can't.  School and preparing a path for my career must come first.  Now, enough with that, and on with the story. 

*****

            If one were able to clearly see objects two miles up in the sky, then one would possibly see what looked like a small distortion in the air two miles above the forest surrounding Gennai's lake.  However, this was no mirage.  The distortion was real, as was the thing it was hiding.  The thing had a name, and if the distortion- active camouflage as it was called-disappeared, then one could see the name _Gloria_ written on the side.  Extending slightly over a quarter mile in length, the needle-like craft hovered, like an owl watching for its prey.  Long and sleek, the _Gloria_ had no wings, but was hovering in the air thanks to the technology of the people who built her.  She was propelled by four main engines which were powered by two of the _Gloria_'s three fusion reactors, with the third supplying power to the rest of the _Gloria_'s systems.

            Naval Captain Yumeriia Rithyll stood before the observation window on the bridge of her ship, overlooking _Gloria_'s fierce dorsal weapons array.  The top guns were some of the fiercest weapons that Gloria was armed with, with the exception of the belly guns which helped clear out all hostile ships that could destroy the transports as they dropped from the belly of the Gloria.  However, it wasn't the ability to land troops safely or not that worried the captain at the moment.  She knew this area was safe for the time being, it was the safety of three very important people on the ground which worried her.

            "Vrevsky, tell me what's going on down there dimensionally."  She said without blinking an eye.

            "Nothing yet, ma'am," the sensor officer named Vrevsky reported.

            "Good.  Let me know the split second something happens."

            "Aye, ma'am."

           Yumeriia didn't dare let her emotions show in front of her crew, or else they would never follow her into battle if needed.  And they would be overly cautious and jumpy if they saw how she felt now.  After all, it was her brother she was trying to protect, and her brother's head had always been sought after by the enemy.  Ever since he led the fleet's escape during the fall of their home world, the enemy had desired his head on a silver platter for having dared to outwit them so slyly.

            Now, her brother was about to outwit them once again.  However, unlike the last time, this time he had two people who were even more valuable to the enemy than himself, and those people were not so cunning as Yumeriia's brother in terms of evading enemy detection.  And that was the very reason the Gloria was here, risking detection, to protect those from enemy capture.  She remembered the conversation she'd had with fleet HQ shortly before the Gloria was dispatched.

            _"Admiral, my brother can take care of himself as well as the two chosen!  He's done it before, and that was when the chosen were _known _ to__ be here.  If I take the Gloria out now, we could be risking detection that would alert the enemy that we're all here!"_

           _The admiral glowered at her through the view screen with a look that could have made the devil uneasy, and his voice betrayed his annoyance.  "Captain, apparently you haven't read the latest intelligence from our double agent in Dagomon's headquarters.  Increased activity in the digital world, and even worse, an order directly from Dagomon to find and capture the two chosen.  Now, last night, I received a message from Gennai saying that he was going to begin the journey to bring the two chosen here.  He'll have his own method of transportation, but at the first sign of trouble before he lifts off, then you are to bring him and the two chosen here under the Gloria's protection.  I don't have to explain these orders, Captain, but you have to follow them.  Am I making myself clear!?"_

_            "Yes, admiral, perfectly clear.  The Gloria will depart under active camouflage at once."_

            "Captain, the admiral is on the comm.  He wants to know what the situation is."

            "Tell him that all's quiet here, but that we're ready if it doesn't remain that way."

            "Aye, ma'am."

            The admiral unclipped her comm device from her belt and opened a channel.

            "Flight deck here, Captain," the calm voice of the officer on duty said.  "What can we do for you?"

            "Ready a squad aerocraft and place  FoeHammer on full standby for the shuttle."

            "A possible hot pickup, ma'am?"

            "Yes.  And no heavy weapons.  Anti-personnel only unless I say otherwise.  And if Captain Tarris gives you any grief, then tell him that the _real_ captain orders him to shove it."

            "Aye ma'am.  Flight deck out."

            _I hope that for everyone's sake, you're not discovered, brother.  But if you do, then I'll be the one to rescue you for once._

*****

            Major Draksar looked at the small cadre of ten Deep Ones arrayed before him.  All of them were scouts, not warriors, and thus they wore very little armor, and appeared to be nearly naked like the peons and prisoner-servants of Lord Dagomon who had tried to lure the girl Hikari to the depths eight years before when disguised as Hangyomon.  The difference in the scouts was that they were armed, and wore the slick dark stealth suits of their specialization class.  Draksar had gathered the best scouts in the fortress to assist him, and now they prepared to set out.  Half would enter the human world and search for the girl and her protector, and he would go with the other five to the Digital World to see if they had somehow escaped there undetected.

            "You all have your orders.  Do not return until you have found them or the other group has found them, unless ordered by me or Lord Dagomon.  Do not attempt to capture or kill them either.  Lord Dagomon has specifically ordered us to do nothing except to find them.  He will deal with them himself once we have found them and reported their location.  Move out!"

            The five heading to the human world scurried off towards the wizards in the temple where they would then be transported to their locations through the wizards' dark magics.  As for his group, Draksar had to gather with them to discuss plans.  Not only did they need to find the two but they also had to remain undetected as well.  Where the group in the human world would be able to escape unharmed if found, Draksar's group wasn't so lucky.  The digimon knew of the Scubamon too well, and if his group was found out, then it would be even harder to find Hikari and the meddler who protected her tirelessly.

            "Captain," Draksar said, laying out a map of the Digital World that they knew of so far, "Where would be the best place for us to deploy to?  We have to avoid detection by every digimon there, so remember that."

           The captain of the group scanned the  map with his glowing red eyes, which faded in brightness as he squinted in thought.  After about a minute he pointed to a spot on the map.  "Here," he said, one of his flipper-fingers pointing to a spot of land.  "This spot is ideal.  There's a lake nearby, so we can hide there undetected if needed, because it's too small for any real group of digimon to live there, and also, these woods are relatively uninhabited.  I've been there before.  Just plants and brush, no digimon."

            Draksar nodded, seeing the wisdom in the Captain's ideas.  "We'll go there, then," he said.  "We leave in less than an hour.  Be at the temple in twenty minutes.  I will join you shortly."

            The five scouts of his group scurried off towards the temple where the wizards were, while Draksar himself headed back towards his office in the great North Tower.  There he collected his normal battle suit, intended for combat, not stealth, a personal stealth unit, and his weapon.  The scouts worked well and fought well in their stealth suits, but Draksar was a soldier.  He wouldn't do well in a scouting suit, but he could do well in a battle suit with a stealth unit attached.  He checked the clasps on the pitch black armor that gave him the appearance of having terrifyingly spiked elbows and heavily scaled skin._  "Success with this mission will surely get me a promotion, or at least a choice slot in the invasion force.  I've been waiting for an opportunity like this too long to fail now."_

*****

            Takeru had only packed a small amount of things for himself.  This wasn't a vacation any longer.  This was war.  Gennai broke the news to them that today they were heading to where they would be spending the rest of the time before the attempted invasion, preparing and training to be effective leaders.  It didn't bother Takeru too much that he was leaving this place.  However, he could tell it was hard on Gennai.  The man had lived here for many years, and his wife was buried here, so this had to be hard on him.  But, Gennai had told Takeru with a glance that sympathy was not welcome.  Gennai needed and wanted to deal with parting from his home by himself.  And so Takeru had obliged, and he was now sitting with Hikari in her room, watching her pack her things.

            "Takeru, you don't have to be so modest," Hikari teased, looking at how Takeru sat facing away from her packing so as not to see her pack her underwear.  In a way, she appreciated his modesty; it showed that he respected her and her right to privacy and decency.  However, Hikari knew Takeru and knew he had seen women's underwear plenty of times.  Who hadn't?

            "I have my reasons, Hikari-chan," he said resolutely, keeping his face turned away.  And that was that, she saw.  Hikari finished packing her clothing, and moved onto the other things from her luggage that she'd need.

            "I'm done packing my 'unmentionables', Takeru," she said dramatically, making an dramatic flourish with her hands.  "You may allow yourself to turn around now."

            Takeru turned around, and Hikari saw that he was blushing a little.  She wasn't really surprised, since he had been the same way when she was packing back in her apartment for Kyoto.  However, she noticed he was fiddling with something in his rucksack.  She wanted to ask him what it was, but thought the better of it.  The look Takeru had on his face was one that he had on whenever he was lost in thought, and thus he himself  probably didn't know what he was toying with.  Still, right now she wanted to talk to him.  Even though she'd known him for a good ten years, much of him was still a mystery to her, a mystery she wanted to unravel.  But Takeru, it seemed, was also in a mood to talk.

            "Ne, Hikari-chan," he said almost absent mindedly, still fiddling with whatever was in his rucksack, "What do you think of all this?  I mean, I know I'm pretty nervous about all this myself.  Gennai has only told us that we'll be in training for a long while, and then we're going to have to command armies.  I'm just not sure I'm cut out to be a general.  What about you, Hikari-chan?" 

            Hikari stopped packing and leaned against the bed in thought.  "To be honest, Takeru, I'm terrified.  I mean, first Dagomon tries to take me, then Gennai pulls us into the Digital World with no warning, saying that it's time for a prophecy to be fulfilled, and then you are attacked in your mind, and now we're heading to god-knows-where and whatever is there . . . . I'm scared, Takeru, scared beyond belief."

            Takeru looked down at her and gave her one of his trademark smiles, hoping to ease her mind.  "You sure don't seem too scared, Hikari-chan," he said, trying to show his empathy.  "And I know you'll get through this just fine.  Besides, you aren't going through this alone.  I promise you that."

            "You're part of the reason I'm even able to go through with this plan, Takeru," she said.  Then, realizing what she'd just said, her face flushed red.  _"No!  I did NOT just say that!  Yagami Hikari, think _before_ you speak!"_

            She tried to think up some sort of escape for herself, but it was too late.  Takeru had heard her say it the moment she said it, and he probably also heard the deeper meaning behind it as well.  She looked back up at him and he was still smiling, but his face looked more . . . content, than before.  _"What is going on in that head of yours, Takaishi Takeru?"_

           "But you don't have to go through this by hiding all your emotions, Hikari-chan," Takeru said.  "I'm always here for you, you know."

            Hikari couldn't help but smile.  She knew he was absolutely right.  He _was_ always there for her, and would be for as long as she wanted him there.  And that thought alone was comforting.  Despite being one of the biggest teddy bears she knew, Takeru was also fierce and passionate.  She knew that he'd only allow someone or something to hurt her only if he was stone dead.  That was a scary thought, but also a comforting one as well, because Takeru didn't easily give up, especially on life.  She was safe when around him.  She turned back to her packing and spent the next few minutes sorting out what she would and wouldn't need, and packing only those clothes she'd need.  Takeru and Hikari spent the next several minutes in a peaceful silence like the one they'd enjoyed that morning watching the sun rise.  Even after she put the last piece of clothing in her rucksack, she and Takeru sat there in her room, silent and deep in thought.

            But that quiet peace would not last.  Not five minutes had passed before they heard the sound of Gennai's footsteps pounding on the wooden floor.  "Let's go," Gennai said, as Takeru and Hikari stepped out into the hallway.  "We've got trouble on the way, and only one chance to avoid it.  Come on."

*****

            Sensor officer Vrevsky kept a keen eye on the sensor array display.  Being the sensor operator, he had to know what to look for, and thus, besides the Captain and the Executive Officer, more commonly called the XO, he was the only one to know in detail what this mission was about.  The rest of the crew had come up with their own theories which he pretended to pay attention to in the mess hall, and he neither encouraged nor discouraged the rumors.  After all, the truth would become clear if something had to be done, otherwise it was best that the details of the mission be known to as few people as possible.  Still, the temptation for him to send a communiqué back to Omega and warn his family of the impending danger was immense.  But it would be unwise.  Everyone knew that Dagomon would eventually try for the Digital World.  It was only a matter of time.  That was why Gennai had called the two chosen here now, and also why their digimon partners were now gathering reinforcements at the nearby Alpha base.  The invasion was coming and coming soon.  It was only a matter of time as to when . . . .

            There!  A blip on the screen!  A dimensional jump!  He quickly scanned the area in depth and analyzed the residual phase shift residue.  Sure enough, his fears were confirmed.  Residual pattern was that of the ocean depths in the deep Eastern sea back home.  However, that was not all.  As soon as his analysis scan was finished, five more dimensional shifts were registered on the screen.  All within five klicks of the lake.

            "Captain!  We've got trouble.  Big trouble!"

            "Crap!  What is it, Vrevsky?"

            "Six dimension jumps within a 5 klick radius of the lake!  Sender origins are from the deep Eastern Sea back home!"

            The captain swore again, and thumbed her comm device.  "Flight deck, report!"

            "We're here, Captain," the officer on duty said.  "Everything is ready to go.  Shall we launch now?"

            "Yes, launch now!  And tell the crew to get that aerocraft to the lake bank as fast as possible and as quietly as possible.  When they land, have the marines deploy under active cammo.  The captain has his orders directly from me."

            "Aye, ma'am.  Launching now.  Flight deck out."

            The Captain turned her attention to the forward view port as the flight deck doors opened, and the armored personnel shuttle shot away and around the Gloria and towards the  lake where Gennai lived.

*****

            Gennai knelt in front of Chihiro's grave, his rucksack of necessary possessions, including some pictures he had put away long ago beside him.  His katana lay beside his rucksack as well, as it was almost time to leave.  He only had to say goodbye . . . one last time.  Except that there wasn't anything to say.  Chihiro was long gone from the world and would not be returning.  And thus there was nothing to say now . . . oh, but if she was here, then they wouldn't be saying anything either.  If she were still here, they'd be sitting beneath a grove tree, content in each other's arms.  Him, the battle-experienced marine, and she the former secretary of the port commander.  It had been an odd combination from the start, but that hadn't really mattered to them.  But all that was in the distant past.  Now, it was time to put all the past behind him.  And that included Chihiro.  _"But my love for you still remains.  I won't be leaving that behind, beloved."_

            Gennai sighed and rose to his feet.  It was time to go.  Time to take Takeru and Hikari to Omega colony and have them begin their training.  After all, that was where the surviving military minds of his world had fled to, along with their families and whoever else the remnants of the western fleet had been able to carry and still manage to remain in the air during the dimension jump. Even then, three ships didn't make it, as they succumbed to anti-airship fire from the ground, losing altitude, and were torn apart in the gate rift.  Three full ships.  Over nine hundred people, both military and civilian, including his mother, father, and brother-in-law Petros.  All lost when the Jovian, Trepador, and Lubiira were destroyed.  But that was in the past as well.  This was now.  And the actions now were leading to a future where something so hideous as the conquest of an entire world would be rendered impossible.

            _"Remember the past, do not forget it, but do not live in it either."_  Petros had said to Gennai when coping with the news of his family's death. at the hands of Dagomon's troops.  It had been during the raiding of Westport, the Western fleet's home port.  The fleet had been out on maneuvers when the raiding party had jumped in less than a klick out of the port and launched a brutal assault.  The fleet had launched all marine aerocraft at the first distress call from port security, but it was too little too late.  By the time the marines got there, Westport had been ransacked.  All Gennai and his troops had been able to do was deliver justice upon the raiders, who were still trying to find any survivors.  It was one of the worst days of Gennai's life, when he discovered the body's of his wife's family in the wreckage and saw that they hadn't died from the collapse of the building, but from horrendous wounds inflicted by bolt guns and knives carried by Dagomon's troops.  When he got home and told Chihiro of the news, she cried for at least an hour, and he right along with her.  Chihiro . . . the love of his life.  Even she was gone now.  All those Gennai had held dear to him had been taken away by the actions of  Dagomon and his minions.

            _"Chihiro, I must go.  I will not forget you, but our time together has long since ended."_

            Gennai then turned and walked out of the grove, and he turned to look at Chihiro's grave stone once more.  The pain of her death would always remain with him, but he did not have to let it dominate his mind any longer.  It was time to let the wound heal and become a scar.  And he left, having seen her grave for the very last time, leaving his wounded self behind in the grove.

*****

            _"Armed Personnel aerocraft were designed for speed, maneuverability, and firepower . . . definitely not for comfort."_  Luftmarine captain Glenn Tarris thought to himself as the shuttle sped towards the landing point.  _"That's what the transports are for."_

            In his mind, Captain Glenn Tarris ran through the mission briefing detail by detail.  The situation was that six unknown and most likely hostile persons or things had been sent through the dimensional gates to points five klicks from the Colonel's home.  The mission was to extract the Colonel and the two people with him before the hostiles were able to see them and give positive identification.  He watched on his HUD as the six targets moved ever closer to the landing point.  Gloria was feeding data to the shuttle, called Intrepid, and the shuttle was sending him and his men the data through their back-mounted combat packs, fitted with all necessary communication gear, supplies, rations, and airwarrior combat software.  Their power suits were equally well equipped, with advanced ablative armor, and internal first aid systems, and body regulation systems and waste disposal.

            The countdown timer on his HUD began to blink, signaling Glenn that it was time to prepare to go.  "Lieutenant, we're almost there," he said to the pilot through his comm.

            "I copy, Captain.  Prepare to disembark.  Altitude 150, steady and level."

            "Understood."  He then switched to the squad channel and addressed his troops like he was a drill instructor at basic once again.  "Ok, ladies!  Hot drop and extraction.  Riial and I will go down to the Colonel's home and retrieve the VIPs.  Jemal, you have the squad.  Set up a perimeter, and if those hostiles get to a klick from the forest edge, then go in and take them out!  It's ok for us to be discovered just as long as the Colonel and his two guests are not.  Understand?"

            "HO!" they all roared in unison.

            "Ramp door extending.  Ready your jump thrusters, sir." The pilot reported.

            "Squad, ready jumpers!  By pairs on my mark!"

            "Lowering rear stealth screens.  Ramp is lowering."

            The back door to the aerocraft immediately began to lower and Captain Tarris saw a gorgeous blue sky and a lush forest underneath.  He silently counted to three, and inhaled deeply.

            "Squad set!" he roared.  "Let's do this, people!"

            His XO, Lieutenant Jemal, acting as the jump master gave him the thumbs up.  "JUMP!"

*****

            Draksar's group entered the Digital World as they had planned: dispersed 7 y'arrals from the lake at a distance of less than 1 y'arral from each other.  Though the scout captain said that there was little to no inhabitants in that area, he wanted to be careful anyway, and make absolutely sure.  At the lake, they'd set up camp and organize a search pattern across the Digital World.  He knew it would take time . . . lots of time, but Lord Dagomon hadn't set a time limit, only the condition that he was not to return until the two Chosen had been found.

            "Scouts, check in," he said over into his communication mic.

            "Scout lead, here."

            "Scout 2, here."

            "Scout 3, here."

            "Scout 4, here."

            "Scout 5, here."

            Good, all had made it, and by his eyepiece, which showed him the location of the scouts relative to him, all of them had deployed as planned.  "Imperium Guard here as well.  Let's get moving, scouts.  Check for sentient life, but advance towards the lake as quickly as possible to set up camp."

            "Understood, Imperium Guard.  Scout lead out."

            Draksar hefted his bolt rifle, switched his HUD display to show sentient life, and he set out towards the lake. 

*****

            Gennai heard the almost undetectable sound of jumpers hitting the ground and his senses immediately went on alert.  The Luftmarines didn't train anywhere near here, he knew that for a fact.  He also knew that Dagomon had air troops as well, and during the war, he remembered that they had also sounded much like Luftmarines when they hit ground.

            _"So Dagomon is becoming overly ambitious, sending troops for us this early.__  This only complicates matters."_

            He gripped his katana tightly and prepared to draw it as soon as he saw the first flicker of the active camouflage field.  He ducked behind one of the trees near the steps leading down from the lake and steadied his mind and began his combat meditations.  He focused his mind on the battle ahead, how the enemy would move and how he would counter his enemy's movements.  He plunged his mind fully into a combat state as his old master Rin-Jo had taught him.

            _"In the fight, you exist only for that fight.  Let it consume you, oblivious to all that occurs around you that does not affect you.  During that fight, exist only for the defeat of your opponent.  Defeat, young Gennai, not death necessarily.  For a surrender is just as good as a death.  Either way, render your enemy incapable of fighting back, and continue on."_

            He would do that, just as he had been taught and just as he had trained.  And the approaching enemies would taste his blade before they knew what had happened.

            He heard the heavy thud of the powersuits and then the sound of four feet, two people, quickly hurrying down the stone steps.

            _"Almost there.  Wait till they have stepped fully onto the grass.  Then attack."_

            The footsteps stopped at the last step, and Gennai imagined the blood thirsty troops of Dagomon looking around for someone to murder.  He wouldn't let them.  He saw the shimmer of the distortion field which was the only giveaway to the presence of a soldier under active camouflage.  Gennai swung his katana from the draw in one smooth and fluid motion, the blade going directly from the sheath to right where the neck of the soldier would be.  "Move, and die," he snarled.

            "Would you really slay one of your own men, Colonel?" the voice behind the distortion field asked calmly.

            "Turn off the cammo and we'll see," Gennai said, his katana unwavering.

            "Very well," the voice said.  The distortion screen shimmered briefly and there stood a fully armored Luftmarine with captain's bars and the unit insignia of the legendary FoeHammer squad, a squad Gennai had once commanded during his military days.  This man was no enemy.

            "I hope you'll excuse and understand my hesitation," Gennai said, putting away his katana, "But I have two very important people here who I've sworn to protect."

            The marine nodded, "I expected nothing less from you, sir," he said.  The marine then nodded and then Gennai saw the shimmer of another distortion field shimmer and die and beside the captain stood another marine with Lieutenant's bars.  "But as you are probably guessing, we're not here for a leisurely visit.  We're here to take you with us."

            Gennai nodded, understanding.  After all, it was one soldier talking to another.  Orders were orders and there was no use contradicting him.  "I take it that something has come up."

            "Some _things_," the captain said.  "Six of them, 5 klicks from here and moving towards this position.  We've got an aerocraft waiting."

            "Let's get moving then," Gennai said.  "As soon as Takeru and Hikari come out."

            "Then they'd better hurry," the lieutenant said.  "Because those six _somethings_ are nearing the 1.5 klick mark.  We engage them when they reach one klick, and we'd rather not have to engage if we don't have to."

            "Let me hurry those two up, then," Gennai said, "And we'll be out of here."

*****

            FoeHammer XO, Lieutenant Urel Jemal waited patiently with his rifle raised and an eye on the HUD that showed him the movements of the six things that had come here from the Dark World, from the place that used to be home.  _"Hurry up, Captain.  As much as I like killing Dagomon's troops, now is _not _a good time to get into a battle with them."_  He watched as the distance counter ticked down another tenth of a klick.  It seemed that the things were slowing down, proceeding more carefully every tenth of a klick they go to the lake.  He prayed that some of them didn't have full combat suits and thus couldn't tell that there were ten live bodies with guns awaiting them.  Because though it might scare some beings off, it wouldn't scare off any troops of Dagomon's.  That knowledge would only incite a battle, a bloody one at that.

            "Lieutenant, put her on the ground and open up the ramp, we're coming up!" the captain's voice rang out through the comm system.  "Squad, prepare to load up and leave!"

            Urel allowed himself a small sigh of relief.  So there wouldn't be any combat today.  That was good.  He heard the comforting roar of the aerocraft putting itself onto the ground, and heard the ramp door open.  Time to leave.

            "Squad!  By pairs!  Break perimeter and board the shuttle once the Captain and the VIPs are on!" Urel said over the squad frequency.

            Urel stood up and stretched his body.  Even in a contained powersuit which helped support him, crouching in a single position for an extended amount of time had a stiffening effect on the joints, and he had to flex his knees fully to keep from being sluggish.  He then disabled his cammo screens in preparation to board, and had also flipped up his HUD eye piece as had most of the other soldiers in the squad.  After all, the mission was over.  The VIPs were boarding the shuttle which had just landed and deactivated its cammo screens.

            It was then that all hell broke loose.

            First it was the alert alarm playing throughout the squad comm system.  It was the same tone as the Gloria's call to General Quarters, the traditional navy term for battle stations, and thus as it sounded, the entire squad automatically flipped their HUDs down over their eyes, Urel was sure from what he saw that all, including himself, were ready to piss their pants.  All six hostiles were at the forest edge . . . within their visual range!  _"Why didn't we see or hear them beforehand?!"_ Urel asked himself, _"At this range, I could probably take a piss and hit one of them.  I should be able to see them even without the aid of the HUD."_  The question remained unanswered as Urel snapped his laser rifle up and flipped the safety off.

            The next few moments were extremely tense, as the squad fell back behind the shuttle, ready for battle.  Riial was first up the ramp, making sure that there were no hostiles who had the boarding ramp sighted.  The HUDs showed enemy position, that was true, but seeing where the enemy was and seeing the enemy with one's own eyes were two different things, and one was much better able to shoot at something with one's own eyes.  Urel ordered the men to switch to thermal detection on their HUDs so they could see the enemy better, but it was useless.  The thermals showed nothing, and he realized that the Deep Ones had to be using stealth suits that not only masked their appearance visually, but hid them from thermal scanners as well.  Maybe they couldn't see them or detect them except through data being sent from the _Gloria_, but they knew there were out there, within spitting distance no less.

            The first shot came as Riial went up the ramp.  A blue energy bolt erupted from the forest and struck the junior officer right between the eyes.  Then the projectile exploded, spraying bone and brain matter all over.  Urel had to use all his self control to not throw up at the sight.  The captain, however, did not seem phased in the least.  His rifle came up as quick as lighting, and rattled off several bursts of laser fire into the general area of where the shot came from.  But they all soon had enough to deal with.  Particle shots erupted from all around, and at least three marines fell in the initial volley.

            "GET THOSE VIPS IN THE AEROCRAFT, NOW!" the Captain yelled to Urel over the loud cracks of their rifles discharging as they both finally picked up faint traces of heat from the enemy particle guns.  "WE'LL SAVE OUR OWN ASSES AFTER THEIRS ARE SAFE!"

            The Colonel had the two others on the ground in the prone position, and was covering them with his body so that they wouldn't be hit by enemy fire.  Jemal promptly picked him up and tossed him into the aerocraft.  He them helped the two other VIPs to their feet and unceremoniously shoved them into the aerocraft, and went in right after them acting as a shield.  "VIPs onboard, Captain!" Jemal said into his comm unit.

            "SQUAD, EVAC NOW!  AND PILOT, WHERE IS THAT COVERING FIRE?"

            "I'm sorry, sir, but our weapons took direct hits in the initial attack, and are inoperable.  Both the side cannons and the rear cannon are useless." The pilot said over the comm.

            Urel swore to himself when he heard this, but kept focused on the task at hand, which was securing the VIPs.  The Colonel knew how to act, and had already done so, but the other two VIPs did not.  Urel understood as they were young people probably only several years his junior, and had probably never even been in this kind of aerocraft before.  However, that inexperience was what annoyed him at the moment, as time wasted meant the possibility of more marines dying.  He swiftly stowed their rucksacks and the two katanas in the storage compartment, and wasted no time securing the boy and the girl into their harnesses himself.  He then went to the door and supplied cover fire for the squad to enter under.

            FoeHammer was the elite squad of the Gloria for good reason.  They were the most professional marines on the Gloria, and they showed that especially well now.  No man was left behind.  The dead were brought in as were the wounded.  Marines simply didn't abandon their own.  As soon as the last man was up the ramp, Urel hit the emergency close control on the ramp control panel array, and the ramp rocketed up and shut, automatically locking and securing itself.

            Knowing the drill by instinct and with no prompting from the Captain, the pilot took off, turning the other side of the aerocraft towards the enemies and showering the area in a deadly hailstorm of laser cannon fire.  He then pitched the nose of the craft forward and Urel heard the distinctive thud of two flettchette missiles launching.  Intended to soften a hostile LZ before a drop, flechette missiles were also used to disable remaining enemy troops from shooting at an escaping craft.  The pilot then pitched the craft upward, and did a spiral climb, firing the topside anti-aerocraft cannons into the extrapolated enemy positions on the ground.  Only when the aerocraft reached 1000 meters did the cannons stop firing and Urel turned his attention to securing himself in a seat instead of hanging on for dear life on one of the grab rails.  He hadn't taken the time to make a good casualty count when the squad boarded, as he was too busy trying to discourage the enemy from taking more marine lives.  But as he looked around the shuttle, he saw that the enemy had done more than enough.  And this time, he could not control his stomach, and he, the XO of FoeHammer, a man rumored to have the toughest stomach in the entire Luftmarine, grabbed a sick bag, and threw up. 

*****

            Captain Tarris sat in a slight daze as he counted his dead and wounded.  A squad of marines was composed of twelve men, and all twelve were here in the shuttle now, but that did not mean all were alive.  He saw four with their heads blown apart, one being poor Riial, who took the point position even when he hadn't been ordered to, willing to put his life on the line to protect the VIPs. Tarris made a mental note to put Riial up for a posthumous promotion, as well as a citation for extreme bravery above and beyond the call of any marine.  But now was not the time to think over just one man.  He had others to look after.  Tarris counted at least four more seriously wounded; massive chunks take out of their armor and flesh, though all that could be heard was some painful groaning.  His men had extreme self-control even under these circumstances.  The rest hadn't escaped unharmed either.  Everyone, except the VIPs had at least a small gash or two from grazing shots or shrapnel from the exploding particle rounds.  The VIPs had escaped with only mud on their faces and clothing because they had hit the ground when the shooting started, a wise decision on the part of the Colonel.

            Tarris heard the cannons stop firing and knew that they had reached the mid point, and were almost to the Gloria.  Then his eyes fell on his XO, a man he deeply respected, and for the first time, Tarris pitied him.  Urel, for all his leadership ability, prowess with a rifle, and tactical sense, had hardly seen combat, while Tarris himself had seen more than his fair share.  And thus, he pitied his XO as he watched him become green in the face, grab a sick bag, and empty his breakfast into it. After Urel finished emptying his stomach, Tarris motioned him over. 

           "We need to begin first aid on the wounded.  Grab the kits, give them to the other two who aren't incapacitated or dead, and let's all get to work."  He said gently.  Now was not the time to be gruff.  That was under combat conditions when timing mattered.  What mattered now was being a firm and compassionate leader.  He was a stabilizing force for his men, and right now, he had to be compassionate and caring like a father if he was going to be that force.  But first, he had to speak to the pilot.

            "Lieutenant, have you contacted Gloria about our situation?"

            "Yes sir, I just did.  They're wanting to know if medical aid is needed."

            "Absolutely.  Two thirds are either heavily wounded or dead!  And the rest of us are probably traumatized for life!"  The captain's anger at the whole situation erupted in that one long outburst.  Tarris could almost hear the pilot flinch at his words.

            "I'm sorry, sir.  I . . . I had no way of . . . knowing . . .I was busy with landing procedures and didn't notices the enemy's position till everyone else did."

            "It's ok, Lieutenant, you did what you could.  You wisely wasted the area during launch as well.  I've known many pilots who would have bared their backs to the enemy and scurried away under those circumstances.  Most of them are dead now, along with the squads they carried, but still . . . you deserve a medal for all that nerve you showed down there.  The captain will hear about you personally." 

            " . . . I . . . I don't know what to say . . . sir . . . but I . . ."

            "For now, just shut up and keep flying this thing like you have been, and let me tend to my men.  Tarris out."

            Tarris sighed, and glanced over to the Colonel and the two young people with him.  The Colonel gave him a sideways nod as if to say "We're fine.  Tend to your men."  And Tarris did just that.

*****

            Draksar lay on the ground, torn bleeding from the vicious counter-attack unleashed first by the marines and then by the shuttle when it launched its flechette missiles.  His battle armor, designed to withstand brutal punishment had _not_ been made to withstand anti-aerocraft weapons grade laser blasts, and the flechette shards had caused extensive damage to his armor's systems.  He figured the scouting team was dead.  The saturation blasts from the side cannons were powerful, and if he had been armored in anything less, he would have been incinerated instantly.  Draksar struggled to his feet.  He was dripping in his own blood, and he could barely concentrate.  One question, however, kept running through his mind . . . "Why?"  Why were the Luftmarines here?  What was an armored personnel aerocraft carrying a squad of elite marines in full powered gear doing here? . . . . Maybe it was for them!  Those three he barely caught a glimpse of as he reached the edge of the forest.  He hadn't gotten a good look at them because as soon as he was able to visually identify the clearing and lake, he'd detected the marines at only one y'arral, and even then, it had been a faint signal.  They had to have been here to retrieve someone, and they must have known that he and his scouts were nearby.  So . . . even the Digital World held its secret inhabitants.  At least he'd been able to kill several.  He wouldn't have if he hadn't shot the aerocraft's weapon systems first.  That was good.  But still . . . if they had come to pick up those three and it was in response to him and his scouts arriving, then they had to be . . . the man and the woman Dagomon was searching for!  At that moment he cursed his communication system for being damaged.  _"Dammit!  I can't even call for help!"_

            He struggled forward only a few paces before collapsing on the ground again.  The impact of his fall knocked what little breath he had out of him, and he gasped to regain it.  The effort was too much.  He was too mangled from the blasts to move.  His leg muscles were sliced and burned, and most of his body armor had melted and fused to his skin.  _"Why bother.  I hurt more when I move."_  And Draksar, a Major in the Dagon Imperium Guard closed his eyes and fell into darkness . . . .

*****

            Naval Lieutenant Dvid Ulrik steadied out the Intrepid as Gloria's flight control gave him his landing vector.  He raised the inertial field in the squad bay to full so that the soldiers wouldn't feel the immense force being applied to the craft as he did a tight radial turn to place the Intrepid on the designated vector. 

            "We're on approach, Captain," he said, addressing Captain Tarris.  "Make sure all your men are secure.  We'll be coming in fast and stopping hard."

            Dvid dialed back the inertial field in the squad bay as he shunted power to the hover systems.  He kept a keen eye on his controls, watching for the moment to deploy landing gear.  The hundredths of kilometers flew by in a blur, but at the precise moment, he hit his gear controls.  He felt the familiar _whirr_ of the gear as it began to deploy, then the usual soft _thud-thonk_ as the skids locked into place.  He activated the catch bar which would catch them as the aerocraft slid into the bay.  The reason for the catch bar was that the thrusters, which were fine to use outside the hanger, were extremely dangerous in the hanger.

            The long singular thruster engine below the aerocraft used a combination of jet engine and bussard hyperram jet technology.  The charged field that surrounded the aerocraft and helped keep the wing-less craft in the air at high altitudes would cause a lightning storm if it touched a huge non-conductive surface such as the flight deck, which was plated with ceramic armor.  Thus, maneuvering thrusters, which were smaller jet engines linked to the rudder and the hover systems were used when landing, but the maneuvering thrusters produced too little thrust to slow down the aerocraft to a complete stop in the brief amount of time needed, and thus the catch bar was there to snag on the stop wires arrayed perpendicular to the aerocraft's flight path.

            The Intrepid was one klick out when he saw the VGB-visual guide beacon-off to the side of the landing ramp.  It was there in case of navigation failure, which would render the computer's more advanced precision landing ability's inoperable, and leave the landing totally up to the pilot, in which the pilot would have to use the VGB to make sure he was on proper glide slope.  Like most times, Dvid wouldn't have to use the VGB, and he eyed his holographic display showing guidance lines extending from the Intrepid to the Gloria.  Still, Gloria had to know he was fine, and that he had caught sight of the VGB, or snaggle ball as he and his fellow pilots liked to call it.

            "Intrepid, we have you in range.  Call snaggle at one half klick."

            "Intrepid calls the snaggle ball, control.  Coming in fast.  No time to piddle about coming in without a scratch."

            "Control copies, Intrepid.  We're ready for you."

            Dvid confirmed proper lineup on the approach path, and kicked in the Intrepid's afterburners.  The inertial effect hit him before the roar of the afterburners reached his ears.  His airspeed spiked to almost double what it had been, and his estimated time remaining with fuel dropped to ten seconds.  The computer began blaring in his ears about low fuel, and he immediately cut the afterburners and the thrusters as well.  Inertia carried the Intrepid onward like a bullet, as it was supposed to.  Dvid shunted power from the thruster to his hover systems, and used a separate control to toss the maneuvering thrusters into full power.  He was now less than a quarter klick out, and the approach ramp was in full view.  The boost the Intrepid had gotten from the full afterburner boost had given them enough thrust to carry the Intrepid forward like a high powered round from a sniper rifle, and carried them clean onto the ramp.  The maneuvering thrusters had kept them upright and added extra thrust to make sure the Intrepid didn't drop too much too quickly.

            As soon as he saw he was over the ramp, Dvid chopped power on the maneuvering thrusters to full reverse, and pulled hard back on his control stick, as the catch bar snagged a wire, and he hit the airbrakes hard.   The combination of forces acting in opposition to the Intrepid caused Dvid to be thrown full on into his harness, as the Intrepid went from a very high velocity to a near dead stop.  Dvid lowered the hover height to zero, killed power to the maneuvering thrusters and hit the release switch for the squad bad jump ramp.

            Dvid then breathed deeply as he slumped into his seat, with only his harness keeping him completely upright.  They had survived, well, most of them.  Four marines were already dead, and by morning there was likely to be several more who had died from injuries.  But he was alive and had gotten them back in record time.  The Gloria had been six klicks out and two full klicks above the landing site, and it had taken him ten minutes initially from launch to the time when the marines deployed.  He had gotten them back onto the Gloria in under six minutes, including the time he took to scourge the area where the enemy had attacked from.  That little time stunt was certainly going to be of note on his record.  He looked forward to, as well as dreaded being known as the man who had beaten his ship-to-ground time in his subsequent ground-to-ship combat launch.  Now he'd never get a moment's peace about it.  No more normal pilot life for him.  But at least he had done his duty, and that's what mattered to Dvid:  he did his job as best he could, and in doing so, he suspected that he had saved several lives in the process, and that knowledge meant more to him than any medal.

*****

            Takeru looked over at Hikari and all he could think was _"What have we gotten ourselves_ _into?"_  Just yesterday they had been enjoying a pleasant train ride to Kyoto, and now they were passengers on a military craft, full of marines injured or dead in an effort to save them.  It all seemed so surreal to him.  Almost too surreal to truly believe.  But the smell of charred electronics mixed with blood, and the groans of the wounded and dying overrode his sense of disbelief, forcing him to accept the horrible truth that he had witnessed men killed in the most brutal fashion all for him and Hikari.

            He would have remained there thinking the same thing over and over in his shock, but he was suddenly thrown violently forward into his tight safety harness as the aerocraft's afterburners lit and nearly doubled their speed.  Suddenly, the afterburners were cut off, but so was the main thruster.  Takeru's eyes suddenly filled with panic, but Gennai's voice came through smoothly and calmly.  "Don't worry.  This is normal landing procedure.  Inertia and the maneuvering thrusters are keeping us flying forward."

            Takeru had no reason to doubt Gennai, but it made no sense.  Why would a pilot cut off his main engines if that was what was keeping him in the air?  This craft had no wings, and was shaped more like a sleek dagger than an aircraft in the traditional sense, something else had to be keeping this ship airborne, and Takeru suspected that it was the main engine.  However, he didn't know much about the technology he saw around him, so he couldn't be sure.  The logic seemed clear that the pilot knew what he was doing, but the strangeness of it all still kept the fear alive in Takeru . . . until he saw Hikari.

            Her eyes were wide with fear and her face was stricken in terror.  _"She's completely terrified!"_ he realized almost instantly.  Unexpectedly, he remembered back ten years to when he and Hikari were trying to escape Piemon, and he'd done what he could to ease her fears even as they were climbing the rope as a last resort.   She was afraid, and suddenly Takeru forgot all about his own worries and became focused on one thing, which was easing Hikari's fears.  Almost unthinking, he took her hand into his and held on tightly.

            She went from fearful to shocked as she looked at him.  "Takeru . . ."

            "We're fine, Hikari-chan," he said, confidently, though he knew he wasn't really confident himself, still, he had to show her that for her sake.  "We're just about to land."

            The words had barely escaped his mouth, however, when both he and Hikari was tossed violently forward in their harnesses.  Hikari was tossed into her harness hard enough that she had the breath knocked out of her before she could even scream.  She immediately gripped Takeru's hand tightly and was determined to not let go.  It was as if she were falling and he was her only lifeline.  Then it was over.  The aerocraft had stopped and the jump ramp immediately dropped with a loud crash.

            Then it was chaos.

*****

            "The Intrepid is safe and secured in the hanger, Captain."  The flight deck officer said, reporting from his post.  "And the medical crews are attending to the marines right now."

              Yumeriia breathed a visible sigh of relief, which she did not mind letting her bridge officers see.  They knew she was as normal as the rest of them, emotions and all, and an emergency landing was always full of risk.  She knew that Lieutenant Ulrik wouldn't have pulled the stunt he did unless he absolutely needed to save lives by cutting the time it took to get there, and without any active camouflage fields either.  She'd have to review his flight log, and see if he should be given an award, or just a letter of commendation from her on his record.

            "Thank you, Ensign.  Tell Lieutenant Ulrik to see me tomorrow at his earliest convenience and that his orders for now are to make only the necessary entries into his log, and then to take the entire rest of the day off resting."

            "Yes, ma'am.  Also, what do we do with the VIPs?"

            "Assign them state rooms on the senior officer deck, then take them down to sickbay and have them checked over by whoever is not tending to the wounded marines."

            "Yes, ma'am."

            "Good.  Bridge out."

            Yumeriia turned around and sat down in the captain's chair and allowed herself to enjoy the feel of the upholstery on it.  Unlike most captains who did most of their commanding from their chairs, Yumeriia liked to command right in front of the large observation ports, ahead of all the bridge stations, instead of back in the center.  However, she only did her critical non-combat commanding that way.  Whenever the Gloria entered battle, or it was the regular activities of the Gloria, Yumeriia commanded from the captain's chair.  She had no clue why she did this, nor did her crew.  However, unlike most captains who had their ships for more than five years, she had yet to even come close to the overweight line.

            "Helm, turn us to 180.2 and bring us up to cruising speed and altitude." She said, looking at a holographic map of the region.

            "Yes, ma'am."

            "Comm, send a message to Admiral Chev.  Tell him we are on our way back with 'guests'."

            "As ordered, Captain."

            "Tactical.  Maintain the distortion fields.  However, don't keep them up if it's obvious that our location has been compromised."

            "Aye, Captain."

            "Vrevsky you have the bridge for the rest of my shift.  I've got work to do."

            "Paperwork, I take it, Captain?"

            "Indeed.  The admiral may chew me out for not having retrieved the VIPs without incident, but at least he'll take a verbal answer.  These desk jockeys however aren't satisfied even when I turn in a report that's more like a dissertation."

            "Red tape is a bugger, Captain."

            "It is.  Take this as a hint, Vrevsky.  XO is the best command position.  All the authority, but none of the bullshit of a Captain."

            "I'll remember that, ma'am."

            Yumeriia got up and headed off the bridge towards her cabin to do the dreaded paperwork.

*****

            It was already night by the time Captain Tarris was out of his powersuit, given a clean bill of health by the ship's doctor, and had had a time to shower and eat something substantial.  Truth be told, it was the eating which took the longest.  His stomach demanded to be fed, but his mind was too occupied with the deaths of his four men and the other four hanging onto life by mere threads.  Yet dinner had also been a good time this night.  Even though he had told Urel to go and leave him be, his XO refused to obey.  "I'm still hungry as well, sir," he'd said.

            So they sat there, alone in the marine's mess eating for four hours, and each only finishing one serving.  They sat there in silence, however the silence itself told Tarris many things.  The first was that he wasn't simply an old geezer who could still fire a weapon.  Young soldiers like Urel Jemal were willing to stick with him even though they were still in diapers when he was fighting Dagomon troops back home along the western front and in Capitel.  He was a legend to them.  He should've been looked upon as a glorified museum piece - antiquated and great, but not to be followed into battle -  but apparently that wasn't so.  _"So, I've still got what it takes to lead a squad.  Just the fact that my XO is willing to disobey my order to leave just to sit with me.  Loyalty not to the orders, but to the commander.  You'll make a damn fine General someday soon, Urel.  I just hope I survive to see those stars placed on your uniform."_

            Now he found himself walking the hallways when found himself on deck 8, flight deck and sickbay.  _"Well, why not?  The OR has an observation area after all.  And I need to be with my men."_

            As he drew near to sickbay, he heard footsteps following behind him.  He turned around to see who was following him, and when he saw who it was, he snapped to attention.  "Colonel, I didn't know you were walking the halls at night as well."

            "I usually don't, Captain, but then again, I remember a certain young Sergeant who didn't do that either." Gennai said, smiling.  "Anyway, thanks for the timely pickup.  I had no clue Dagomon would know where to send troops to find us."

            "I don't think he did, sir." Captain Tarris said, as he fell into step beside his old commander.  "There were only six and they started pretty far out.  If Dagomon knew where those two were, I doubt he'd send only six soldiers to do the job, and that far from the position anyway."

            "In that case, I agree with you.  But, enough talk.  I've seen enough bloodshed for one day.  Where are you headed?"

            "Sickbay, sir.  I was going to check up on my men."

            "That's something I always liked about how you handled your fire team, Glenn," Gennai said, reminiscing.  "You always looked out for the men and always followed orders at the same time."

            "You to, sir.  That's what made it easy to do.  Still, even during the war, I never saw such nasty ambushes.  I never saw a fight where we outnumbered the enemy and they still managed to take most of us out.  Then again, we mostly saw urban combat and most deaths were from grenades, Rocket Propelled Grenades, and other things.  But hardly exploding bullets."

            "Get used to it, Glenn," Gennai said, sourly, as if he hated having to say those words.  "Much of the war is going to be fought like that, I suspect.  One good thing is that we're not the only ones fighting.  The digimon of the digital world know how to handle themselves in this kind of environment.  We merely train them in using our technology to supplement their inborn abilities."

            "Looks like I'll have to brush up on my guerilla fighting skills then," Tarris said.  "By the way, sir, what are you doing walking the halls?"

            "Nothing really.  Just . . . thinking."

            They reached sickbay before Tarris could ask Gennai what he was thinking about.  Captain Tarris nodded farewell to Gennai and went in to spend time with his men.

*****

            Gennai hadn't finished talking to his old chief Sergeant for more than a minute when a naval NCO found him.

            "Sir, the Captain wants to see you in her state room," he said.  By "the Captain", Gennai knew he meant the captain of the Gloria.  The navy people always called the marine captains by their title then name, but the designation of "The Captain" was always given to the captain of the ship by all the naval crew.

            "Of course," Gennai said, and began to head back towards the lift that would take him to the senior officer's deck.

            "Uh, sir . . . if you'll allow me to escort you . . ."

            "I used to be Marine Commander on this boat.  I know where to find the Captain's state room," Gennai said, giving the NCO one of his old marine stares.  "I'm perfectly capable of escorting myself."

            "Uh, yes sir."

            Gennai entered the lift and set the lift to go to deck A, Captain's deck.  As the lift began to rise, he thought about if he knew who the captain of the Gloria was these days.  He had been somewhat of a hermit for the past ten years ever since he'd had to send for the first group of chosen , and thus hadn't kept up on naval affairs.  Except that he _had_ heard that his younger sister, Yumeriia had become a captain.  She'd paid him a visit five years ago to tell him the good news.  She'd even told him what boat she was given command of.  He tried to go back to that conversation when the doors to the lift opened.  Deck A was a level between decks 1 and 2, and was very small.  It consisted of the Captain's stateroom, the senior officer's briefing room where the Captain gave personal briefings, and another private lift to the bridge.

            He walked the very short distance to the state room, and he had just knocked on the door when he remembered the name of the vessel his sister commanded . . . . The Gloria.

            "It's good to see you, brother." She said, when she opened the door.  "Please, come in."

*****

            Draksar felt himself awakening out of the blackness.  _"What trick is this?  Why am I not dead?"_

            "Well, well, well, it looks like Toadie is awakening.  Pay up, Terevar."

            "Damn, my sis keeps telling to never bet against you."

            "Better listen to then, mate."

            "Look who's talking about listening to my sis.  If you'd listened to her, you wouldn't have married her."

            "You're right, _I _should've listened to her!"

            The two voices laughed heartily, and Draksar felt their attention focus in on him once again, even though he still hurt too much to open his eyes.

            "So, what do we do with him now?"

            "We take him with us, that's what.  Rumor has it that the Zeemattan's engaged a small team of these uglies here and took heavy losses due to the surprise attack."

            "Must've been green units to have lost with almost a two-to-one advantage."

            "Nope, one of the elite marine jumper squads.  You know, the boys that make even us look like amateurs in hand-to-hand."

            The other one whistled long and low.  "Daaaaaaaaaaaamn.  They must've had one nasty surprise to catch those boys off guard."

            "You've seen them train?"

            "Yeah.  Scary bastards they are.  If a fire team of these Toadies hurt them pretty bad, they're either nastier or had one hell of a drop on them."

            "Well, looking at the armor on this one, maybe we can see why."

            "Guess so.  Say, how about I do the dirty work of drugging him and hauling his bloody carcass back to base instead of those two extra days of leave, eh?"

            "No way, sucker.  Should've listened to your sis.  Once I make a bet, you don't break away from the consequences."

            "Ah, but you're too cruel.  Guess that means you do the dirty work this time."

            "Good trade off for two days leave though, eh."

*****

            Takeru felt worn out and exhausted.  It had been a long grueling day after all.  First the near death fire fight at the lake, then the emergency landing, then spending the rest of the day being checked out by a nurse and then by the ship's psychologist to make sure that the combat he'd seen hadn't permanently hurt him mentally.  By then, somehow, it had become night, and he was hungry.  He called down and ordered whatever was on the menu.  The nice thing about the state rooms was the room service.  He was being treated as an honored guest.  Unlike living at Gennai's house where he was treated like a friend, he was treated like a man deserving of respect, where Gennai treated him like a son.  Not that either was bad, it was just that being so respected by people who were total strangers felt good, and raised his self confidence.

            However, something was missing. Here was this delicious platter of food, a comfortable room, and a quiet peace.  What was missing?  The answer came quickly.  Nothing was missing.  It was _who_ was missing that mattered.

            Well, nothing was ever accomplished by sitting around and waiting, he thought.  Time to stop just sitting and get on to the part of doing.

*****

            Hikari sat on the edge of her bed, doing her level best to get the images out of her mind.  The scene kept replaying itself over and over in her head.  She kept seeing the young marine, not more than five years older than her, rush ahead of her in combat, and take a sniper's bullet that was meant for her.  Then, as he was dying, he looked to her, and it was no longer the face of the marine, but the face of Takeru.

            _"GO AWAY!  THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN!"_

            _"But it _could._"_

_            "Shut up!  You aren't me!  Get out of my head!"_

_            "No, I'm not you.  But I know you just as well, and I'll be back!"_

_            "GO AWAY!" _

            But the presence was gone.  Hikari just lay down on the bed shivering.  The voice had been right in a way.  Takeru _would_ give anything, including his life, to keep her safe.  But Takeru was still alive.  It was that poor Lieutenant Riial, his name she learned while she was in sickbay, who had taken the bullet and he had taken it for not just her, but for Gennai, Takeru, and the other marines as well.  Still, it might happen.  And she didn't want that to happen.  _"Is that so selfish?  For me to want Takeru to not risk himself and live through this war?"_

            "_Yes it is selfish, Hikari.  And unfair to Takeru.  _He _is the one who is willing to sacrifice himself for what he believes in.  He'd never forgive you or himself if you held him back from that." _

            She then remembered something Sora had told her a few years ago about love.  _"If you love someone, then be willing to let them go, and if they love you, then they'll return to you."_  But did she, Hikari, even _love_ Takeru?  Yes, she decided.  Yes, she did love him.  He was her companion through thick and thin, the friend who would never give up on her.  Unlike some people, she'd never seen Takeru as a brother.  A brother was like Taichi, and Takeru was not at all like Taichi.  Therefore, Hikari could never see him as a brother. But she could see him as someone much more than a friend.  _"But does he love me just as much?  I'm not sure."_

            Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.  She forced herself to get up and plodded to the door.

            When she opened the door, she was certain fate was toying with her again, because there before her eyes was the man who currently was consuming all her thoughts. 

            "Takeru . . . ."

**To Be Continued . . .**


End file.
